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Chesapeake Bay TMDL

EPA Evaluations of Phase I Watershed Implementation Plans in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed

EPA reviewed the Bay jurisdictions' Phase I Watershed Implementation Plans (WIPs) based on detailed expectations provided by EPA in November 2009 and April 2010. EPA interacted extensively with the Bay jurisdictions (Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia) to improve the Phase I WIPs.

WIPs need to achieve the Bay jurisdictions' respective target loads at both the jurisdiction and major river-basin level and provide reasonable assurance that the actions identified will achieve reductions. Reasonable assurance provisions are particularly important for non-permitted sources like runoff from agricultural lands and currently unregulated stormwater from urban and suburban lands. The final WIPs represent significant improvements over the draft WIPs, enabling EPA to reduce and remove most federal "backstops" that were included in the draft TMDL.

View the EPA evaluations of the Phase I WIPs below.


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