Transcript Restoring and Protecting Chesapeake Bay and River Water Quality June 2005 CHESAPEAKE BAY PROGRAM The Chesapeake Bay is North America’s largest and most biologically diverse estuary, home.

Restoring and
Protecting
Chesapeake Bay and
River
Water Quality
June 2005
CHESAPEAKE BAY PROGRAM
The Chesapeake Bay is North America’s largest and most
biologically diverse estuary, home to more than 3,600 species of
plants, fish and animals.
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For more than 300 years, the Bay and its tributaries have
sustained the region’s economy and
defined its traditions and culture.
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It is a resource of extraordinary productivity,
worthy of the highest levels of
protection and restoration.
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What’s the Problem with Bay and River
Water Quality?
Because things on land are easily washed into
streams and rivers, our actions on land ultimately
affect the Bay.
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Section 1: What’s the Problem
CHESAPEAKE BAY PROGRAM
Most scientists believe that nutrients and sediment are
the root of most water quality problems in the Bay.
The amount of nutrients that would naturally
enter the Bay would be okay, but the
amount going into the Bay now has been
amplified by people.
When we use fertilizers, dispose of sewage,
drive cars, and generate electricity, we harm
the Bay.
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Section 1: What’s the Problem
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Water Quality Problems
Algae blooms and depleted oxygen levels are caused by nutrient
pollution.
When the algae die and
decompose, they use up oxygen
needed by other plants and animals
living in the Bay's waters.
Poor water clarity is caused by algae blooms and sediment
pollution.
Algae blooms and sediment cloud
the water and block sunlight,
causing underwater bay grasses to
die.
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Sources of Nutrient Pollution to the Bay
Stormwater and groundwater carry
nutrients into rivers and the Bay from a
variety of nonpoint sources, such as
farms, lawns, gardens, golf courses and
septic tanks.
Scientists believe that agricultural
sources contribute the largest portion of
the nutrient pollution entering the Bay.
Point sources, such as wastewater
treatment plants, are the second
largest contributors of nutrient
pollution to the rivers and the Bay.
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A significant amount of nitrogen pollution is created
when we generate electricity and drive cars.
Generating electric power by
burning fossil fuels, such as coal
and oil, releases nitrogen, in the
form of nitrogen oxide gas, into
the air.
Nitrogen oxide gases from
automobile exhaust are another
source of nitrogen pollution.
When it rains, this nitrogen is
washed out of the air and off of
the land, eventually making its
way into rivers and the Bay.
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Section 1: What’s the Problem
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What Do We Want to Achieve?
Achieve and maintain the water quality necessary to
support the aquatic living resources of the Bay and
its tributaries and to protect human health.
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Section 2: What Do We Want to Achieve
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Chesapeake 2000: The New Agreement
In June 2000, the Chesapeake Bay Program partners
signed a new agreement to guide the restoration and
protection of the Bay through the next decade and beyond.
In Chesapeake 2000, the partners agreed that:
Improving water quality is the
most critical element in the
overall protection and
restoration of the
Chesapeake Bay and its
rivers.
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Bay and River Water Quality Commitment
In order to achieve and maintain the water quality
necessary to support aquatic living resources, one of the
commitments the partners made is to:
By 2010, correct the nutrient- and sediment-related
problems in the Chesapeake Bay and its tidal tributaries
sufficiently to remove the Bay and the tidal portions of
its tributaries from the list of impaired waters under the
Clean Water Act.
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Watershed-wide Pollution Reductions Needed
The pollutants causing
water quality impairments
drain into to the Bay
and its rivers from
Pennsylvania
the entire watershed.
New York
Maryland
Chesapeake Bay
Watershed
Boundary
Delaware
West Virginia
District of
Columbia
Virginia
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Section 2: What Do We Want to Achieve
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How Might the Bay and its Tidal Rivers
Look with Restored Water Quality?
The Honorable Bernie Fowler wades into the Patuxent River
every year to test water clarity. One year he hopes to wade
out up to his shoulders and still see his white sneakers.
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Section 3: How Might the Bay Look?
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Restored Water Quality Means:
• Fewer algae blooms and better fish food.
• Clearer water and more underwater Bay grasses.
• More oxygen and improved habitat for more fish,
crabs and oysters.
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Section 3: How Might the Bay Look?
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Healthy vs. Unhealthy Water Quality
Sunlight
Minimal Nitrogen,
Phosphorus and
Sediment Inputs
Excessive Nitrogen, Sunlight
Phosphorus and
Sediment Inputs
Algal Bloom
Healthy
Bay Grasses
Balanced
Algae Growth
Healthy
Habitat
Reduced
Bay Grasses
Unhealthy
Habitat
Algae Die-off
Algae
Decomposition
Healthy
Oyster
Reef
Adequate
Oxygen
No Oxygen
Lack of Benthic
Community
Benthic Community
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Barren
Oyster
Reef
Section 3: How Might the Bay Look?
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CHESAPEAKE BAY PROGRAM
How Far Have We Come?
The Bay and its rivers are doing better
but we have a long way to go.
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Section 4: How Far Have We Come?
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Bay Grasses Show Annual Variation
Acres of Bay Grasses (thousands)
180
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
Restoration Goal (185,000 acres by 2010)
Underwater bay grasses
are slowly improving, but
further reductions in the
pollutants flowing into
the Bay are needed to
help them flourish.
Annual variations in bay
grasses show the
sensitivity of the Bay
ecosystem.
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0
*Note – Hatched area of bar includes estimated additional acreage. No Baywide surveys 1979-83 and 1988
Source: Chesapeake Bay Program.
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Many Water Habitats Still Lack Sufficient Oxygen
Excessive nutrients can stimulate algae blooms
resulting in reduced oxygen levels in the water.
Stressful dissolved oxygen conditions occur during
summer months throughout much of the deeper
waters of the mainstem Bay and up into the
Patapsco, Chester, Patuxent, Potomac,
Rappahannock, and York Rivers, and Eastern Bay.
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How Do We Define
Restored Water Quality?
• Map out the “designated uses” (habitat zones) for
the Bay’s different living resource communities.
• Determine the water quality conditions or “criteria”
necessary to protect those “uses”.
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Section 5: How Do We Define Restored Water Quality?
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Designated Uses of Bay and Tidal River Waters
The needs of the Bay’s living resources dictate what
the uses (habitat zones) should be:
•
•
•
•
•
Migratory Fish Spawning and Nursery Use
Shallow-Water Bay Grass Use
Open-Water Fish and Shellfish Use
Deep-Water Seasonal Fish and Shellfish Use
Deep-Channel Seasonal Refuge Use
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Refined Designated Uses for
Chesapeake Bay and Tidal Tributary Waters
A. Cross Section of Chesapeake Bay or Tidal Tributary
Shallow-Water
Bay Grass Use
Open-Water
Fish and Shellfish Use
Deep-Water
Seasonal Fish and
Shellfish Use
Deep-Channel
Seasonal Refuge Use
B. Oblique View of the “Chesapeake Bay” and its Tidal Tributaries
Migratory Fish
Spawning and
Nursery Use
Shallow-Water
Bay Grass Use
Deep-Water
Seasonal Fish and
Shellfish Use
Open-Water
Habitat
Deep-Channel Seasonal Refuge Use
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Migratory Fish Spawning and Nursery Use
General Description of Designated Use:
• Aims to protect migratory and resident tidal freshwater
fish during the spawning and nursery season in tidal
freshwater to low-salinity habitats.
• Critical time period is late winter to late spring (February
through May).
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Migratory Fish Spawning and Nursery Use
The upper reaches of
tidal waters and the
upper mainstem used as
spawning and nursery
grounds by striped bass,
shad, perch and other
fish.
Spawning and Nursery Habitat
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Section 5: How Do We Define Restored Water Quality?
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Shallow-Water Bay Grass Use
General Description of Designated Use:
• Designed to protect underwater bay grasses and the
many fish and crab species that depend on the
vegetated habitat provided by grass beds.
• Critical timeframe is the bay grass growing season.
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Shallow-Water Bay Grass Use
Shallow Water Habitat
Tidal waters up to two
meters in depth where
underwater bay grasses
have been historically
observed.
Two Meter Bathymetry Contour
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Open-Water Fish and Shellfish Use
General Description of Designated Use:
• Designed to improve water quality in the surface
water habitats within tidal creeks, rivers, embayments
and the mainstem Bay.
• Aims to protect diverse populations of sportfish
including striped bass, bluefish, mackerel and sea
trout as well as important bait fish such as menhaden
and silversides.
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Open-Water Fish and Shellfish Use
All surface tidal waters
extending to the bottom, or
to the top of the pycnocline*
in areas where it exists and
presents a barrier to reoxygenation of deeper
waters.
Open Water Habitat
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Section 5: How Do We Define Restored Water Quality?
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Deep-Water Seasonal Fish and Shellfish Use
General Description of Designated Use:
• Aims to protect living resources inhabiting the deeper
transitional water column and bottom habitats between
the well-mixed surface waters and the very deep
channels.
• Protects many bottom-feeding fish, crabs and oysters,
as well as other important species, including the bay
anchovy.
• Critical timeframe is June through September.
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Deep-Water Seasonal Fish and Shellfish Use
Tidal waters within the
pycnocline* where it
presents a barrier to reoxygenation of deeper
waters.
Deep Water
* Pycnocline marks a density
change in the water column due to
a transition from the warm, fresher
water layer on the surface to the
relatively cold, saltier water at the
Bay’s bottom.
Deep Water
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Section 5: How Do We Define Restored Water Quality?
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Deep-Channel Seasonal Refuge Use
General Description of Designated Use:
• Designed to protect bottom sediment dwelling worms
and small clams that act as food for bottom-feeding
fish and crabs in the deep channel habitats.
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Deep-Channel Seasonal Refuge Use
Very deep water and
adjacent bottom
sediment located in
the channels below
the pycnocline at the
lower reaches of
major tidal rivers and
along the spine of
the upper and
middle mainstem
Bay.
Deep Channel
Deep Channel
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Section 5: How Do We Define Restored Water Quality?
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Chesapeake Bay Water Quality Criteria
• Water Clarity – light for underwater Bay grasses
• Chlorophyll a – base of the Bay food chain
• Dissolved Oxygen – for fish, crabs and oysters
Together, these three criteria define the conditions
necessary to protect the wide variety of the Bay’s living
resources and their habitats.
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Water Clarity
• All plants--even those underwater--need light!
• Water clarity is a measure of the amount of sunlight that
penetrates the Bay’s waters and reaches the surface of
underwater Bay grass leaves.
• The amount needed is determined by the specific
underwater grasses which grow in different areas of the
Bay.
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What’s Blocking the Light?
Good Water Clarity
Poor Water Clarity
Percent of sunlight at
the water surface that
penetrates the water:
•13% in low salinity
waters
•22% in high salinity
waters
Sediment and other
particles in the water
+
Algae in the water
+
Algae on the leaves
equals
Very low percentage
of sunlight reaching
leaves – Bay grasses
grow poorly or die. 35
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Section 5: How Do We Define Restored Water Quality?
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Chlorophyll a
• Chlorophyll a is a measure of the amount of algae in
the water.
• Some algae are good sources of fish food and others
are poor sources.
• Excessive nutrients can
stimulate nuisance algae
blooms resulting in reduced
water clarity, reduced amounts
of “good fish food”, and
depleted oxygen levels in
deeper waters.
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Section 5: How Do We Define Restored Water Quality?
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Dissolved Oxygen
• Living things--even those underwater--need oxygen!
• The amount of oxygen needed in the water depends
on the specific needs of the Bay’s living resources.
• The amounts depend on where and when certain
areas are used by different living resources.
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Section 5: How Do We Define Restored Water Quality?
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Oxygen Requirements (mg/L) of Bay Species
Migratory Fish Spawning
& Nursery Areas
6
Shallow and Open Water
Areas
5
Striped Bass: 5-6
American Shad: 5
White Perch: 5
Yellow Perch: 5
4
Hard Clams: 5
Deep Water
2
Deep Channel
1
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Alewife: 3.6
3
Bay Anchovy: 3
Crabs: 3
Spot: 2
Worms: 1
Section 5: How Do We Define Restored Water Quality?
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What needs to be done?
Now that restored water quality has been defined,
what actions will need to be taken to remove the Bay
and its rivers from the impaired waters list by 2010?
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Section 6: What Needs to Be Done?
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Reduce Nutrient Pollution Loads
Nutrient Load (million lbs/yr)
400
350
300
nitrogen
250
phosphorus
200
150
100
50
0
1985
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2000
2010
DO Criteria Achievement (% water volume)
In order to achieve the water quality conditions necessary
to protect aquatic living resources, certain amounts of
nitrogen and phosphorus reductions need to occur.
…we improve water quality
As we reduce
conditions.
nutrient loads...
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
% w ater volume
achieving dissolved
oxygen criteria
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Section 6: What Needs to Be Done?
1985
2000
2010
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Reduce Sediment Pollution Loads
Sediment Load (million tons/yr)
7
6
landbased
sediment
5
4
3
2
1
0
1985
2000
2010
Bay Grasses (x 1,000 acres)
In order to achieve the water quality conditions necessary
to protect aquatic living resources, certain amounts of
sediment reductions need to occur.
…we increase underwater
As we reduce
bay grasses.
sediment loads...
180
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
acres of
underw ater
bay grass
1985
2000
2010
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Section 6: What Needs to Be Done?
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Nutrient and Sediment Load Reduction Goals
The 2010 pollutant reduction goals are:
Nitrogen - Reduce annual loads to no more than 175 million pounds.
Phosphorus - Reduce annual loads to no more than 12.8 million
pounds.
Land-based Sediment - Reduce annual loads to no more than 4.15
million tons.
2010
Nitrogen
Goal
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
1985
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2000
2003
25
20
7
2010
Phosphorus
Goal
15
10
5
0
1985
2000
2003
Sediment Load (million tons/yr)
30
Phosphorus Load (million lbs/yr)
Nitrogen Load (million lbs/yr)
400
2010
Sediment
Goal
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
1985
2000
Section 6: What Needs to Be Done?
2003
Source: CBP Phase 4.3
Watershed Model. Estimates
of nutrient and land-based
sediment reductions that may
occur when the reported
management practices and
reduction technologies are
implemented within
watershed portions of NY,
PA, MD, DC, DE, WV, VA.
The model's nonpoint source
load reductions are estimates
of what would occur under
long-term avergaed rainfall
conditions based on the
years 1985-1994. The point
source load reductions are
actual measurements and
are influenced by the
reporting year’s rainfall. 42
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Who is involved? What is the timeline?
We are all a part of the problem –
All of us need to become part of the solution.
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Section 7: Who? When?
CHESAPEAKE BAY PROGRAM
Timeline for Removing Impairments to
Bay and River Water Quality
•
2010 – The Chesapeake 2000 agreement calls for
Bay Program partners to have corrected the nutrient
and sediment-related problems in the Chesapeake
Bay and its tidal tributaries sufficiently to remove the
Bay and the tidal portions of its tributaries from the
list of impaired waters under the Clean Water Act.
•
2011 – Bay Program partners will begin
development of TMDLs for any areas of the Bay that
may still be listed for impairments due to nutrient
and sediment related problems.
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Section 7: Who? When?
CHESAPEAKE BAY PROGRAM
Who’s involved?
• Bay Program partners in this effort include the signatories
to the Chesapeake Bay agreement -- EPA (representing the
Federal government), the jurisdictions of MD, PA, VA and
DC, and the Chesapeake Bay Commission (representing
MD, PA and VA state legislatures).
EPA
Maryland
Pennsylvania
Virginia
District of Columbia CBC
• The partnership for this effort was expanded through a
Memorandum of Understanding to include the jurisdictions
of DE, NY and WV.
Delaware
New York
West Virginia
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Section 7: Who? When?
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Who Needs to be Involved?
• Local governments and citizens and…
• YOU need to become informed and get involved:
• Participate in restoration and protection efforts.
• Hold Bay Program partners accountable!
We are all a part of the problem –
All of us need to become part of the solution.
WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER
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Section 7: Who? When?
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Key Opportunities for Citizen Involvement
• 2003 - 2005 – participate in the the state water
quality standards development process
• 2003 - 2004 – get involved with teams developing
tributary strategies
• From now until 2010 – stay informed and involved
and…
hold Bay Program partners accountable!
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Section 7: Who? When?
CHESAPEAKE BAY PROGRAM
Water Quality Improvements Alone Will Not “Restore
the Bay”
If we do not manage fisheries, no matter how clean
the water becomes, we still may not have sustainable
populations.
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Section 8: Restoring the Complete Ecosystem
CHESAPEAKE BAY PROGRAM
Water Quality Improvements and Fisheries
Management Are Still Not Enough
We need to protect and restore all habitats, not
just water habitats.
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Section 8: Restoring the Complete Ecosystem
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Water Quality Improvements,
Fisheries Management and Habitat Protection and
Restoration Are Still Not Enough
We need to manage the way we use the land in
watersheds.
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Section 8: Restoring the Complete Ecosystem
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Water Quality Improvements,
Fisheries Management, Habitat Protection and
Restoration, and Sound Land Use
are Still Not Enough
We need to engage everyone to become better
stewards of the watershed.
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Section 8: Restoring the Complete Ecosystem
CHESAPEAKE BAY PROGRAM
Only By Integrating ALL Components of
Chesapeake 2000 Can We Expect to
Restore the Bay
The agreement reflects the Bay’s complexity in that
each action taken, like the elements of the Bay itself,
is connected to all the others.
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Section 8: Restoring the Complete Ecosystem