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The Chesapeake Bay Program

The Chesapeake Bay Program. How the Bay Program Affects the COG Region. Briefing for Loudoun County Supervisor Sally Kurtz. February 16, 2006. Credit for several slides goes to the Chesapeake Bay Program and to the Chesapeake Bay Commission. The Bay Program & the COG Region.

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The Chesapeake Bay Program

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  1. The Chesapeake Bay Program How the Bay Program Affects the COG Region Briefing for Loudoun County Supervisor Sally Kurtz February 16, 2006 Credit for several slides goes to the Chesapeake Bay Program and to the Chesapeake Bay Commission

  2. The Bay Program & the COG Region • Substantial regional implications • Environmental • Cost • Growth policy • Today’s agenda • How localities, including Loudoun County, are affected • The role and priorities of COG and COG’s Bay Policy Committee Briefing for Loudoun County

  3. WATER QUALITY in the BAYDEFINING the PROBLEM Briefing for Loudoun County

  4. The Chesapeake Bay • 64,000 square mile watershed. • Home to over 200 species of fish. • Largest estuary in North America. • Focus of a multistate partnership. Briefing for Loudoun County

  5. To protect uses we must … 6

  6. … protect underwater grasses, fish and the entire food chain. 7

  7. Water Quality Problems • Fish need oxygen • Nutrients cause low oxygen levels • Underwater grasses need light • Sediment blocks the light Briefing for Loudoun County

  8. Baywide SAV acreage, 1978-2004 Historic levels of underwater grasses exceeded 200,000 acres Briefing for Loudoun County

  9. Low Oxygen Causes Fish Kills During the summer, dissolved oxygen (DO) levels become dangerously low in about half of the Bay's deeper water. 9

  10. Sources of Pollution • Sewage treatment (nutrients) • Farm runoff (nutrients & sediment) • Urban runoff (nutrients & sediment) • Air pollution (nutrients) Briefing for Loudoun County

  11. HOW DOES the BAY PROGRAM WORK? Briefing for Loudoun County

  12. Chesapeake Bay Program • “Voluntary" association • Formal agreements • 1983: Focus on science • 1987: Established nutrient reduction goals • 2000: More stringent goals, including sediment • 2010 deadline for results • The path to solutions • Tributary strategies • Regulatory backstop to tributary strategies Briefing for Loudoun County

  13. Briefing for Loudoun County 16

  14. Implementation Goal: Reduce Nutrients …we increase achievement of water quality conditions. As we reduce loads... 18

  15. Implementation Goal: Reduce Sediment As we reduce sediment loads... …we increase underwater bay grasses. 19

  16. Non-Tidal Water Deposition Septic 1% 4% Point Source 21% Agriculture 42% Mixed Open 6% Urban Forest 11% 15% 2002 Nitrogen Loads to the Tidal Chesapeake Bay by Source Air deposition accounts for about 1/3 of the total nitrogen load, but virtually no phosphorus 12

  17. What’s Needed to Restore the Chesapeake Bay? • Steep reductions in the amount of nutrients and sediment entering the Bay. • A large-scale financial investment in the range of $15 - $28 billion. • The political will to make it a reality. Needed: 103 million pounds in 8 years Achieved: 60 Million pounds in 17 years Briefing for Loudoun County

  18. Flow-adjusted Trends Show Progress Reversing or Slowing Graphs from Michael Langland et. al., USGS. Changes in Streamflow and Water Quality in Selected Nontidal Basins in the Chesapeake Bay Basin, 1985 – 2004.

  19. LOCAL IMPACTS Briefing for Loudoun County

  20. Impact of the COG Region • COG region’s population: • 2000 - 4.2 M • 2020 - 5.8 M • Bay Watershed • 2000 – 15.7 M • 2020 – 17.8 M 1 in 4 of the Bay watershed’s residents lives here now; 1 in 3 in 2020 Briefing for Loudoun County

  21. Briefing for Loudoun County

  22. Briefing for Loudoun County

  23. COG Organizational Structure Water Supply Task Force Solid Waste Task Force TPB Tech. Comm TPB CAC MWAQC TAC AQPAC COG Board of Directors Independent Committees National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board Metropolitan Washington Air Quality Committee National Capital Region Emergency Preparedness Council Policy Committees Administrative Committees Public-Private Partnerships Human Services Policy Committee Committee on Noise Abatement and Aviation at National and Dulles Airports Public Safety Policy Committee Chesapeake Bay and Water Resources Policy Committee Chief Administrative Officers Metropolitan Development Policy Committee Washington Area Housing Partnership Alternative Fuels Partnership Clean Air Partners Finance Strategic Planning Environment & Public Works Directors Energy Policy Advisory Committee Information Technology Purchasing Officers Election Officials Cooperative Forecasting Planning Directors Correction Chiefs Disaster & Emergency Preparedness Fire Chiefs Police Chiefs Child Care Substance Abuse Treatment Foster Care Health officers Housing Water Resources Community Forestry Special Independent Sub-regional Environmental Committees Anacostia Watershed Restoration Blue Plains Regional Committee I-95 Technical Committee 3

  24. Major Priority for COG -- Funding • Most progress in region (e.g. wastewater treatment plant upgrades) has come through funding partnerships among local, state and federal levels • COG rep (Penelope Gross of Fairfax County) participated on Chesapeake Bay Watershed Blue Ribbon Funding Panel (2003-2004) • Panel identified major “funding gap” of $15 – 28 billion • Panel proposed creation of regional financing authority to be capitalized by six-year $15 billion investment by federal and state governments (80 – 20 split. • COG comments supported creation of authority • Little to no progress has been made; federal contribution seems unlikely at this point in time Briefing for Loudoun County

  25. Costs at the Local Level • Stormwater management retrofits • $2.5 billion • Excludes new development costs • Wastewater treatment upgrades • Advanced technology: $3.0 - $8 billion. • Maryland has “Flush Tax” program in place to pay for its wastewater upgrades; Viriginia General Assembly currently debating funding policies for its plants • Virtually no federal or state money for stormwater Briefing for Loudoun County

  26. HOW THE COSTS HAVE BEEN SHARED Source: EPA CBP ECONMIC ANALYSIS, 2003 Briefing for Loudoun County

  27. OTHER ISSUES Briefing for Loudoun County

  28. Three Steps to a Cap on Growth Load Cap for all sources From the Bay Program From tributary strategies & permits Load Cap for Each Sewage Plant Options to prevent a moratorium: new technology, offsets or regulatory relief Growth Cap as each plant reaches capacity Briefing for Loudoun County

  29. Take Home Points • The Bay Program is about living resources • Nutrients & sediment are the main problems • Wastewater, urban stormwater, agriculture and air deposition are the main sources • Localities face new requirements for stormwater and wastewater • These have substantial cost implications • They may have growth policy implications • COG is the focus for regional coordination Briefing for Loudoun County

  30. Briefing for Loudoun County

  31. Contact information • COG Director of Environmental Programs, Stuart Freudberg, 202-962-3340 • COG Water Resources Director, Ted Graham, 202-962-3352 • CBPC staff, Karl Berger, kberger@mwcog.org, 202-962-3350 • CBPC web page: http://www.mwcog.org/environment/water/chesapeake/ • Chesapeake Bay Program web page: http://chesapeakebay.net/ Briefing for Loudoun County

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