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 Chesapeake 2000 Agreement
The Chesapeake 2000 Agreement is an unprecedented, cooperative movement that seeks to improve and protect water quality within the Chesapeake Bay and ultimately restore the entire Chesapeake Bay ecosystem. By the year 2010, its goal is to “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.” In 2011, the EPA will establish a bay-wide Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) of sediments entering the bay, resulting in mandatory directives from EPA .
Pennsylvania Chesapeake Bay Tributary Strategy
The Pennsylvania Chesapeake Bay Tributary Strategy is a suggested menu of measures that, if taken, generate an overall, significant reduction of nutrients and sediment in Pennsylvania waters entering the Bay. Specific subjects of this strategy are the Susquehanna and the Potomac Watersheds.
Mandatory Requirements
There are two (2) mandatory measures:
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The Agricultural, Communities and Rural Environment (ACRE) Initiative, which requires certain farms to comply with specific environmental regulations related to nutrient management and erosion and sediment control.
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New water quality standards approved by EPA for the Bay are now applicable upstream in the Susquehanna and Potomac Watersheds. All new NPDES Permits must comply with these regulations.
Nonpoint Sources
Various state agencies and nonprofit environmental organizations provide funding for nutrient and erosion and sediment control measures. In 2004, $75,000,000 of funding was available from many different sources.
More Information
For more information, please visit the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s website,
www.dep.state.pa.us, keyword “Chesapeake Bay”, or visit
www.chesapeakebay.net.
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