Taking a major step forward in Maryland’s efforts to restore the health of the Chesapeake Bay, Governor Parris N. Glendening has established new targets for nutrient reduction designed to protect the Bay’s living resources and enable the main stem of the Bay to be removed from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s list of impaired waters by 2010. The new targets outlined today will reduce nitrogen discharges to no more than 38 million pounds and cap the discharge of phosphorus at 3.1 million pounds; reductions of 19 million pounds of nitrogen and 700,000 pounds of phosphorus.
“Since the beginning, our goal has been to restore the Bay, not ‘arrest its decline,’” said Governor Glendening. “We must be more aggressive in our efforts to protect the Bay from excess nitrogen and phosphorus discharges. It is our hope that by 2010, the steps that we have taken today will pay dividends in terms of promoting the growth of Bay grasses, habitat for native species, and overall water quality.”
Now that the goals have been set, Maryland’s Tributary Teams and other stakeholders will determine how to achieve the necessary reductions on a watershed-by-watershed basis. Tributary Strategies are the game plans or blueprints that will be followed to achieve the actual nutrient reductions. They include such actions as decreasing the amount of sediment and runoff from farm fields and suburban lawns, decreasing nutrients in wastewater treatment plant effluent, and increasing the number of acres of resource lands saved from development.
Posted: 11-4-2002
