Chesapeake Bay Watershed

Implementation Plan (WIP III)

Communities throughout the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, along with federal and state government, local government, nonprofit organizations, farmers, and private businesses are making significant progress restoring and protecting the health of local waterways and the bay.

On December 29th, 2010, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) established the Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL), a historic and comprehensive cleanup plan to guide federal, state, and local actions as their communities clean up the Chesapeake Bay and the connected stream, creeks, and rivers.

Specifically in Virginia, the TMDL calls for a 20.5% reduction in Nitrogen, 25.2% reduction in Phosphorous and 20.8% reduction in Sediment delivered to the bay. The objective is to have clean up practices, known as best management practices or BMPs, in place by 2025 to reach the goal of a clean Chesapeake Bay and local waterways that meet water quality standards.

CSPDC's Chesapeake Bay WIP Efforts

The CSPDC was contracted by DEQ to coordinate the region’s urban sector stakeholder input process for development of the Phase II and Phase III WIPs. For the Phase III WIP, the CSPDC compiled an input deck of Urban Best Management Practices. In addition to selecting best management practices, the localities and stakeholders identified gaps in capacity and funding, and any other needed programmatic actions for BMP implementation. DEQ then aggregated the regional information from each Planning District into a state level plan. DEQ’s final plan can be found here.

Following the region’s WIP III efforts, DEQ has contracted CSPDC to provide coordination and technical assistance to local governments and other stakeholders in the region with urban sector implementation efforts. Please see past meeting summaries for more information.

For more information on CSPDC’s regional WIP III efforts please contact Zach Beard (zach@cspdc.org).

Staff Contact(s)
  • Zach Beard (zach@cspdc.org)
Meeting Summaries
Resources & Timeline
Helpful Terms
  • Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL): A calculation that determined the amount of a pollutant that can occur in a waterway, but still meet water quality standards and ensure cleans water.
  • Local Area Planning Goals (LAPGs): Pollutant reduction goals established for local communities.
  • Best Management Practices (BMPs): Restoration activities and projects (planned and implemented) to improve local water quality and meet pollution reduction targets established in the Bay TMDL.
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