1 New York’s Chesapeake Bay WIPOverview Upper Susquehanna Watershed Forum November 3, 2016
2 Chesapeake Bay Watershed TMDL
3 Chesapeake Bay Program Background1983 A multi-state program formed to restore Chesapeake Bay “dead zones” -.EPA, D.C., MD, PA, VA original program members 2000 DE, NY, WV signed on to help with water quality goals 2009 Clean Water Act Lawsuit 2010 TMDL Finalized Chesapeake Bay impaired due to excess nutrients and sediment Informal agreement between EPA and the states that comprise the majority of the Chesapeake Bay watershed Other states added to the agreement in 2000 Voluntary agreement included goals for WQ improvement –not largely successful in achieving improvement Lawsuit brought in 2009 against EPA for failure to enforce the Clean Water Act Resulted in the creation of the CB watershed TMDL – finalized in 2010
4 Total Daily Maximum Load (TMDL)A TMDL defines the capacity of a waterbody to absorb a pollutant and still meet water quality standards - “Pollution diet” Chesapeake Bay TMDL is for nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment Legal mechanism to address impaired waters TMDL – defines the maximum amount a waterbody can receive of a pollutant and still meet WQ standards EPA completed a multistep process to develop the TMDL Set nutrient allocations for nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment for each watershed state and D.C. States that contribute the most pollution are required to achieve higher reductions Legal mechanism – higher level of implementation compared to voluntary agreement
5 Watershed Implementation Plan (WIP)All 7 Chesapeake Bay watershed “jurisdictions” have a WIP. The WIP provides BMP implementation goals (“input deck”) and reasonable assurance that the goals can be met Phase II – 60% reduction (2017) Each jurisdiction developed watershed implementation plan – plan to move toward achieving load reductions WIP covers point and NPS pollution Point sources – regulated via SPDES permits (WWTPs, General SPDES – CAFO, MS4, construction) NPS – voluntary programs, structural/non-structural BMPs EPA evaluates progress (i.e. Two-year Milestones)
6 NY Portion of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed10% of watershed area 4% of watershed population 76% forested 21% agricultural 3% developed NY portion of the watershed – majority is forested Ag. is dominant land use type Not highly developed overall
7 New York Pollution SourcesWastewater Treatment Plants Urban Runoff Agriculture Phosphorus Septic 3% Percentages from 2009 Watershed Model 5.3.2 Nitrogen
8 NY’s Wastewater Sector Targets
9 Nutrient Effluent LimitsLimits established for Bay-significant facilities (~30 facilities with greatest contributions) Monitoring only for Bay-nonsignificants Nitrogen Establishes a total “bubble” limit (Next slide) Phosphorus Individual Effluent Limits assigned for individual facilities
10 The Nitrogen “Bubble” Cumulative limit placed on all significant facilities within the Bay Individual Limits assigned for tracking purposes Enforcement only if bubble is broken Could focus enforcement on those facilities who exceeded their individually assigned limits Helps us achieve our overall nutrient reduction goals without forcing costly upgrades.
11 NY’s Urban Sector Targets
12 Urban BMP Lack of BMP inputs to modelSummer of 2016 effort to input historical BMPs into model Erosion and Sediment Control inputs from Construction Stormwater General Permit database Stormwater practice inputs from MS4s MS4s required to maintain post-construction control practice inventory within their jurisdiction The model showed very little stormwater BMP implementation prior to the historical BMP collection effort of With those practices now included in the model, the model should better reflect what is actually discharging from the Urban sector.
13 NY’s Agricultural Sector TargetsWe’re going to let Wendy Walsh from USC describe whats going on with the Agricultural Sector and our unique, we believe very successful, relationship with USC to help us fulfill our TMDL obligations.
14 Currently in the works
15 Current projects underwayWWTP Optimization Tweaking plant maintenance and operations to get further nutrient reductions Involving NYSARC Better Urban BMP tracking using MS4s Inspection/maintenance tracking Installation tracking New York State Association of Regional Councils (NYSARC) are a group that works with MS4s to help them meet their regulatory obligations. We hope to use them to help us collect better stormwater data from MS4s for our use in the Watershed model.
16 Thank You For more information visit: EPA TMDL: bay-tmdl Chesapeake Bay Program: DEC Chesapeake Bay Watershed Program: Sara Latessa Environmental Program Specialist Division of Water, Albany (518)