Pollutants

Ultimate authority for cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay rests with the Executive Council, which consists of the governors of Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia, the EPA administrator, the mayor of the District of Columbia, and the chair of the Chesapeake Bay Commission, which represents state legislators.

Reducing the level of nitrogen and phosphorus pollutants entering the Bay has been the cornerstone of restoration efforts for 25 years.  In 1987, the Executive Council promised a 40% reduction in nutrient runoff by the year 2000.  Unfortunately, this goal was not achieved, primarily because wastewater improvements took longer than anticipated and agricultural pollution-reduction strategies were not as effective as had been hoped.

Having missed these targets, the Executive Council committed itself to clean up the Bay sufficiently by 2010 that it qualified for removal from the EPA’s “dirty waters” list.  Unfortunately, progress in the eight years since the Chesapeake 2000 Agreements were signed with great fanfare has been insufficient to meet the  2010 targets.

Nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment are the biggest pollutants.  Goals were set to reduce the amount of all three pollutants entering the bay by 2010 from the levels occurring in 1985. By 2007, we were roughly halfway to meeting these goals:

2010 Pollution Goal (Million pounds)

                                Data Source:  Chesapeake Bay Program Phase 4.3 Watershed Model

Meeting these goals is designed to return the Bay to a condition similar to that existing in the 1950s, when dead zones were rare and bay grasses covered large areas of the Bay.  Water quality would be sufficient to protect marine life at all times in 96% of the Bay.