Transcript Slide 1

West Virginia’s Involvement in
the Chesapeake Bay Cleanup
Update and Timeline
Alana Hartman, WV DEP
January 13, 2010
WV’s Tributary Strategy Implementation Com’te
WV Department of Environmental Protection
WV Conservation Agency / Conservation Dist’s
WV Department of Agriculture
Cacapon Institute
The Conservation Fund - Freshwater Institute
Natural Resources Conservation Service
WV Division of Forestry
WV Division of Natural Resources
USDA Farm Service Agency
WVU Extension Service
US Fish & Wildlife
WV Water Resource Institute
Trout Unlimited…others
In June of 2002, Governor Bob Wise signed the
Chesapeake Bay Program Water Quality
Initiative Memorandum of Understanding.
By signing this memo, West Virginia agreed to
develop goals and objectives to reduce nutrient
and sediment loading. Reductions of 33% for
nitrogen, 35% for phosphorus, and 6% for
sediment are needed between the years 2002
and 2010.
=> WV’s Potomac Tributary Strategy (2005)
= WV’s Potomac Tributary Strategy (2005)
Covered various sources of pollution:
Point Sources:
wastewater treatment plants
industrial sources
Nonpoint Sources:
urban/suburban runoff
agriculture
forest harvesting
septic systems … etc.
Much progress has been made:
Voluntary actions by agricultural
producers, homeowners
County plans & ordinances revised
Point Sources’ permits revised
Education and outreach regarding good
practices
Local watershed groups
enlisted/empowered to help
Clean Water Act Section 319 Project Teams
in Sleepy Creek and elsewhere, and $$
THE CHESAPEAKE BAY TMDL: Restoring Waters
of
West Virginia and the Chesapeake Bay
Bay TMDL Public Meeting
November 4, 2009
Martinsburg, WV
Rich Batiuk and Bob Koroncai
U.S. EPA Region III
6
7
Chesapeake Bay WatershedBy the Numbers
• Largest U.S. estuary
• Six-state, 64,000 square mile watershed
• 10,000 miles of shoreline (longer then entire
U.S. west coast)
• Over 3,600 species of plants, fish and other
animals
• Average depth: 21 feet
• $750 million contribution annually to local
economies
• Home to 17 million people (and counting)
• 77,000 principally family farms
• Declared “national treasure” by President
Obama
Source: www.chesapeakebay.net
8
Nutrient Loads by State
WV
3%
DE
3%
VA
26%
DC
1%
WV
4%
DE
2%
DC
1%
MD
19%
MD
20%
NY
5%
VA
45%
NY
6%
PA
24%
PA
41%
Nitrogen*
Phosphorus
*EPA estimates a nitrogen load of 284 million lbs nitrogen in 2008. EPA
assumes a reduction of 7 million lbs due to the Clean Air Act. This leaves
77 millions lbs to be addressed through the TMDL process.
9
Chesapeake Bay HealthPast and Future
10
The Chesapeake Bay TMDL
• EPA sets pollution diet to
meet states’ Bay clean
water standards
• Load caps on nitrogen,
phosphorus and sediment
loads for all 6 Bay
watershed states and DC
• States set load caps for
point and non-point
sources
11
Nutrient Sources of WV
Sources of Phosphorus
from West Virginia
Sources of Nitrogen
from West Virginia
Wastewater
5%
Wastewater
21%
Forest
21%
Developed
10%
Forest
19%
Agriculture
64%
Agriculture
53%
Developed
7%
N and P values from 2008 Scenario of Phase 5.2 Watershed Model
12
Local Water Quality Issues
T
Stream off South Branch of Potomac
Mill Creek, Bunker Hill Heights
13
What are the Target Pollutant Cap
Loads for the Bay Watershed?
Current model estimates are that the states’ Bay
water quality standards can be met at basinwide
loading levels of:
- 200 million pounds nitrogen per year
- 15 million pounds phosphorus per year
(Sediment target cap load under development-will be
available by spring 2010)
14
Current State Target Loads
State
Nitrogen
Tributary
Strategy
Phosphorus
Tributary
Target
State Strategy
Load
Target
Load
DC
2.12
2.37
DC
0.10
0.13
DE
6.43
5.25
DE
0.25
0.28
MD
42.14
41.04
MD
2.56
3.04
NY
8.68
10.54
NY
0.56
0.56
PA
73.17
73.64
PA
3.10
3.16
VA
59.30
59.22
VA
7.92
7.05
WV
5.69
5.71
WV
0.45
0.62
197.53
197.76
14.93
14.84
Total
Total
All loads are in millions of pounds per year.
15
Needed Reductions
•
•
•
•
Caps = 5.71 MM#/yr N; 0.62 MM#/yr P
N needed = 7.27 - 5.71 = 1.56 MM#/yr
P needed = 0.66 - 0.62 = 0.04 MM#/yr
But,
– Existing point source loads not = 2010 NA
– Must deal w/ increased future loads (new point sources as well as
landuse conversion by development)
– Delivery factors change
______
Slide from DEP’s work-in-progress trying to
understand how many reductions we can expect
from point sources.
The Chesapeake Bay
Performance and Accountability System
17
Mandatory Pollution Diet at Work
Develop Watershed
Implementation Plans
Employ Federal
Actions or
Consequences
Federal actions to accelerate
controls
Federal consequences for
inadequate state progress
Plans include:
Sub-allocation of loadings to
sources
•Evaluation of Program Capacity
necessary to achieve target loads
•Identification of Gaps between
needed and existing capacity
•Schedule to fill gaps and reduce
loads based on description of
planned enhancements
Monitor Progress
to assess actions,
load reduction progress and
water quality response
Set 2-Year
Milestones
Controls and program
enhancements to maintain
schedule.
Contingencies by state/DC
18
Establish
Bay TMDL:
• Total maximum nutrient and
sediment loads
• Wasteload and load allocations
by state/DC, drainage area of tidal
segments, and sector
•Informed by Watershed
Implementation Plans
Source Categories
• 27 Sources, 24 land uses
• 6 Categories
– Agriculture (16)
– Urban Runoff (6)
– Wastewater (1)
– Forest (2)
– Septic (1)
– Atm. Dep. (1)
Watershed Implementation Plan
Expectations
• Identify reductions by major river basin, tidal
segment watershed, county and pollutant source
sector
• Identify gaps and strategy for building needed local
capacity for pollution reduction actions
• Commit to develop 2-year milestones at the county
scale
• Develop contingencies
20
Federal Consequences
• Will be outlined in an EPA letter this fall. May
include:
– Assigning more stringent pollution reductions to regulated point
sources (e.g., wastewater, stormwater, CAFOs)
– Objecting to state-issued NPDES permits
– Limiting or prohibiting new or expanded discharges (e.g.,
wastewater, stormwater) of nutrients and sediment
– Withholding, conditioning or reallocating federal grant funds
21
Bay TMDL- Presidential Executive
Order Connections
• Federal commitments to nutrient/sediment
reduction actions
• Work in concert to assure pollution cuts
• Promote accountability, performance
• Common components
– Requirement for state/DC plans to reduce
pollutants to meet Clean Water Standards
– Two-year Milestones to keep pace to 2025
– Federal consequences if progress lags
22
Your Role in Bay TMDL Process
Oct 2009
Major basin
jurisdiction
loading
targets
NovemberDecember
2009
December
2010
Phase 2
Watershed
Implementation
Plans: Jan – Nov
2011
Bay TMDL Public
Meetings
Phase 1 Watershed
Implementation
Plans: November
2009 – August
2010
AugustOctober
2010
Final
TMDL
Established
Local Program
Capacity/Gap
Evaluation
Divide Target Loads
among Watersheds,
Counties,
Sources
Starting
2011
Public
Review
And
Comment
23
2-year
milestones,
reporting,
modeling,
monitoring
Bay TMDL: Bottom-line
• Actions will clean and protect local waters in WV thereby
supporting the local economy
• Restore a thriving Chesapeake Bay
• Federal, state, local officials and agencies will be fully
accountable to the public
• Consequences for inaction, lack of progress
WV has opportunity to craft a plan that agrees with
local plans/priorities
24
Progress on WV’s Plan
• WV DEP staff have been working on the point
source numbers, as mentioned previously
• WV’s “Implementation Committee” has been
meeting to decide how to further sub-divide
our allocations
– By source sector
– By county/other geographic area
– In phases, e.g. by 2017 and by 2025
How to further sub-divide our
allocations…
By source sector,
By county/other geographic area,
In phases, e.g. by 2017 and by 2025
Will be considering:
Which land uses contribute the most N per acre
Which geographic areas have greater effect on Bay
Some local water quality goals, e.g. S. Branch algae
Local efforts underway
WV’s 1st set of 2-year milestones
• Nutrient trading/offset program (underway)
June 2009: SB715 now a law, “Ches. Bay
Restoration Initiative” funding must be in
place for trading program soon
• 7 specific agricultural BMPs at certain levels
• 4 stormwater BMPs at certain levels
• 3 septic system BMPs at certain levels
– These were based on current implementation
rates plus a little more ambitious
What you can do
• Check WVCA’s Bay website for
updates/opportunities
• Help spread the word about various practices
and opportunities:
– Less fertilizer on lawns
– More tree canopy left in developments, more
infiltration of rainwater
– Agricultural cost-share money is increasing; take
advantage
– Many others – more ideas on website
Further Information
• Chesapeake Bay TMDL web site
www.epa.gov/chesapeakebaytmdl
• WV’s Chesapeake Bay web site
www.wvca.us/bay
Alana Hartman, WV DEP
(304) 822-7266
[email protected]
29