restoring and protecting chesapeake bay and river water quality june 2005

Restoring and Protecting

Chesapeake Bay and River

Water Quality

June 2005

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CHESAPEAKE BAY PROGRAM

The Chesapeake Bay is North America’s largest and most biologically diverse estuary, home to more than 3,600 species

of plants, fish and animals.

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For more than 300 years, the Bay and its tributaries have sustained the region’s economy and

defined its traditions and culture.

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It is a resource of extraordinary productivity, worthy of the highest levels of

protection and restoration.

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What’s the Problem with Bay and RiverWater Quality?

Because things on land are easily washed into streams and rivers, our actions on land ultimately affect the Bay.

Section 1: What’s the Problem

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Most scientists believe that nutrients and sediment are the root of most water quality problems in the Bay.

The amount of nutrients that would naturally enter the Bay would be okay, but the amount going into the Bay now has been amplified by people.

When we use fertilizers, dispose of sewage, drive cars, and generate electricity, we harm the Bay.


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Water Quality Problems

Algae blooms and sediment cloud the water and block sunlight, causing underwater bay grasses to die.

When the algae die and decompose, they use up oxygen needed by other plants and animals living in the Bay's waters.

Algae blooms and depleted oxygen levels are caused by nutrient pollution.

Poor water clarity is caused by algae blooms and sediment pollution.


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Sources of Nutrient Pollution to the Bay

Stormwater and groundwater carry nutrients into rivers and the Bay from a variety of nonpoint sources, such as farms, lawns, gardens, golf courses and septic tanks.

Scientists believe that agricultural sources contribute the largest portion of the nutrient pollution entering the Bay.

Point sources, such as wastewater treatment plants, are the second largest contributors of nutrient pollution to the rivers and the Bay.


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A significant amount of nitrogen pollution is created when we generate electricity and drive cars.

Generating electric power by burning fossil fuels, such as coal and oil, releases nitrogen, in the form of nitrogen oxide gas, into the air.Nitrogen oxide gases from automobile exhaust are another source of nitrogen pollution.

When it rains, this nitrogen is washed out of the air and off of the land, eventually making its way into rivers and the Bay.


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What Do We Want to Achieve?

Achieve and maintain the water quality necessary to support the aquatic living resources of the Bay and its tributaries and to protect human health.

Section 2: What Do We Want to Achieve

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Chesapeake 2000: The New Agreement


Improving water quality is the most critical element in the overall protection and restoration of the Chesapeake Bay and its rivers.

In June 2000, the Chesapeake Bay Program partners signed a new agreement to guide the restoration and protection of the Bay through the next decade and beyond.

In Chesapeake 2000, the partners agreed that:

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Bay and River Water Quality Commitment

By 2010, correct the nutrient‑ and sediment‑related problems in the Chesapeake Bay and its tidal tributaries sufficiently to remove the Bay and the tidal portions of its tributaries from the list of impaired waters under the Clean Water Act.


In order to achieve and maintain the water quality necessary to support aquatic living resources, one of the commitments the partners made is to:

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The pollutants causing water quality impairments drain into to the Bayand its rivers fromthe entire watershed.

Maryland

Delaware

New York

District of Columbia

Virginia

West Virginia

Pennsylvania

Watershed-wide Pollution Reductions Needed

Chesapeake Bay Watershed Boundary


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How Might the Bay and its Tidal Rivers Look with Restored Water Quality?

Section 3: How Might the Bay Look?

The Honorable Bernie Fowler wades into the Patuxent River every year to test water clarity. One year he hopes to wade out up to his shoulders and still see his white sneakers.

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Restored Water Quality Means:

• Fewer algae blooms and better fish food.• Clearer water and more underwater Bay grasses.• More oxygen and improved habitat for more fish,

crabs and oysters.


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Healthy vs. Unhealthy Water Quality


Sunlight Sunlight

HealthyHabitat

UnhealthyHabitat

BalancedAlgae Growth

Minimal Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Sediment Inputs

Excessive Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Sediment Inputs

HealthyBay Grasses Reduced

Bay Grasses

Algae Die-off

Algae Decomposition

No Oxygen

Lack of Benthic CommunityBenthic Community

HealthyOyster Reef

AdequateOxygen

Algal Bloom

Barren Oyster Reef

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How Far Have We Come?

Section 4: How Far Have We Come?

The Bay and its rivers are doing better but we have a long way to go.

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Bay Grasses Show Annual Variation

Underwater bay grasses are slowly improving, but further reductions in the pollutants flowing into the Bay are needed to help them flourish.Annual variations in bay grasses show the sensitivity of the Bay ecosystem.

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Acr

es o

f Bay

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sses

(th

ousa

nds) Restoration Goal (185,000 acres by 2010)

*Note – Hatched area of bar includes estimated additional acreage. No Baywide surveys 1979-83 and 1988 Source: Chesapeake Bay Program.


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Many Water Habitats Still Lack Sufficient Oxygen

Excessive nutrients can stimulate algae blooms resulting in reduced oxygen levels in the water.

Stressful dissolved oxygen conditions occur during summer months throughout much of the deeper waters of the mainstem Bay and up into the Patapsco, Chester, Patuxent, Potomac, Rappahannock, and York Rivers, and Eastern Bay.


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How Do We DefineRestored Water Quality?

Section 5: How Do We Define Restored Water Quality?

• Map out the “designated uses” (habitat zones) for the Bay’s different living resource communities.

• Determine the water quality conditions or “criteria” necessary to protect those “uses”.

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Designated Uses of Bay and Tidal River Waters

The needs of the Bay’s living resources dictate what the uses (habitat zones) should be:


• Migratory Fish Spawning and Nursery Use• Shallow-Water Bay Grass Use• Open-Water Fish and Shellfish Use• Deep-Water Seasonal Fish and Shellfish Use• Deep-Channel Seasonal Refuge Use

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A. Cross Section of Chesapeake Bay or Tidal Tributary

B. Oblique View of the “Chesapeake Bay” and its Tidal Tributaries

Shallow-WaterBay Grass Use Open-Water

Fish and Shellfish UseDeep-Water

Seasonal Fish andShellfish Use

Deep-ChannelSeasonal Refuge Use

Open-WaterHabitat

Migratory FishSpawning andNursery Use

Refined Designated Uses forChesapeake Bay and Tidal Tributary Waters


Shallow-WaterBay Grass Use

Deep-WaterSeasonal Fish and

Shellfish Use Deep-Channel Seasonal Refuge Use

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General Description of Designated Use:

• Aims to protect migratory and resident tidal freshwater fish during the spawning and nursery season in tidal freshwater to low-salinity habitats.

• Critical time period is late winter to late spring (February through May).

Migratory Fish Spawning and Nursery Use


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Migratory Fish Spawning and Nursery Use


The upper reaches of tidal waters and the upper mainstem used as spawning and nursery grounds by striped bass, shad, perch and other fish.

Spawning and Nursery Habitat

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Shallow-Water Bay Grass Use


• Designed to protect underwater bay grasses and the many fish and crab species that depend on the vegetated habitat provided by grass beds.

• Critical timeframe is the bay grass growing season.


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Shallow-Water Bay Grass Use


Tidal waters up to two meters in depth where underwater bay grasses have been historically observed.

Shallow Water Habitat

Two Meter Bathymetry Contour

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Open-Water Fish and Shellfish Use


• Designed to improve water quality in the surface water habitats within tidal creeks, rivers, embayments and the mainstem Bay.

• Aims to protect diverse populations of sportfish including striped bass, bluefish, mackerel and sea trout as well as important bait fish such as menhaden and silversides.


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Open-Water Fish and Shellfish Use

All surface tidal waters extending to the bottom, or to the top of the pycnocline* in areas where it exists and presents a barrier to re-oxygenation of deeper waters.

Open Water Habitat


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Deep-Water Seasonal Fish and Shellfish Use


• Aims to protect living resources inhabiting the deeper transitional water column and bottom habitats between the well-mixed surface waters and the very deep channels.

• Protects many bottom-feeding fish, crabs and oysters, as well as other important species, including the bay anchovy.

• Critical timeframe is June through September.


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Deep-Water Seasonal Fish and Shellfish Use

Tidal waters within the pycnocline* where it presents a barrier to re-oxygenation of deeper waters.

* Pycnocline marks a density change in the water column due to a transition from the warm, fresher water layer on the surface to the relatively cold, saltier water at the Bay’s bottom.

Deep Water

Deep Water


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Deep-Channel Seasonal Refuge Use


• Designed to protect bottom sediment dwelling worms and small clams that act as food for bottom-feeding fish and crabs in the deep channel habitats.


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Deep-Channel Seasonal Refuge Use

Very deep water and adjacent bottom sediment located in the channels below the pycnocline at the lower reaches of major tidal rivers and along the spine of the upper and middle mainstem Bay.

Deep Channel

Deep Channel


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Chesapeake Bay Water Quality Criteria

• Water Clarity – light for underwater Bay grasses• Chlorophyll a – base of the Bay food chain• Dissolved Oxygen – for fish, crabs and oysters

Together, these three criteria define the conditions necessary to protect the wide variety of the Bay’s living resources and their habitats.


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Water Clarity

• All plants--even those underwater--need light!• Water clarity is a measure of the amount of sunlight that

penetrates the Bay’s waters and reaches the surface of underwater Bay grass leaves.

• The amount needed is determined by the specific underwater grasses which grow in different areas of the Bay.


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What’s Blocking the Light?

Good Water Clarity Poor Water Clarity

Algae in the water

Sediment and other particles in the water

Algae on the leaves

Percent of sunlight at the water surface that penetrates the water:

•13% in low salinity waters

•22% in high salinity waters

+

+

equals

Very low percentage of sunlight reaching leaves – Bay grasses grow poorly or die.


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Chlorophyll a

• Chlorophyll a is a measure of the amount of algae in the water.

• Some algae are good sources of fish food and others are poor sources.


• Excessive nutrients can stimulate nuisance algae blooms resulting in reduced water clarity, reduced amounts of “good fish food”, and depleted oxygen levels in deeper waters.

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Dissolved Oxygen

• Living things--even those underwater--need oxygen!• The amount of oxygen needed in the water depends

on the specific needs of the Bay’s living resources.• The amounts depend on where and when certain

areas are used by different living resources.


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Oxygen Requirements (mg/L) of Bay Species

Hard Clams: 5

Striped Bass: 5-6

Worms: 1

Migratory Fish Spawning & Nursery Areas

Shallow and Open Water Areas

Deep Water

Deep Channel

6

5

3

2

1

4

0

Crabs: 3

Spot: 2

White Perch: 5

American Shad: 5

Yellow Perch: 5

Alewife: 3.6

Bay Anchovy: 3


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What needs to be done?

Now that restored water quality has been defined, what actions will need to be taken to remove the Bay and its rivers from the impaired waters list by 2010?

Section 6: What Needs to Be Done?

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Reduce Nutrient Pollution Loads


In order to achieve the water quality conditions necessary to protect aquatic living resources, certain amounts of nitrogen and phosphorus reductions need to occur.

As we reducenutrient loads...

…we improve water quality conditions.

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phosphorus

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Crit

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% w ater volumeachieving dissolvedoxygen criteria

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land-basedsediment

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100120140160180

1985 2000 2010

Bay

Gra

sses

(x

1,00

0 ac

res)

acres ofunderw aterbay grass

Reduce Sediment Pollution Loads


In order to achieve the water quality conditions necessary to protect aquatic living resources, certain amounts of sediment reductions need to occur.

As we reduce sediment loads...

…we increase underwater bay grasses.

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Nutrient and Sediment Load Reduction Goals

The 2010 pollutant reduction goals are:

Nitrogen - Reduce annual loads to no more than 175 million pounds.

Phosphorus - Reduce annual loads to no more than 12.8 million pounds.

Land-based Sediment - Reduce annual loads to no more than 4.15 million tons.

Source: CBP Phase 4.3 Watershed Model. Estimates of nutrient and land-based sediment reductions that may occur when the reported management practices and reduction technologies are implemented within watershed portions of NY, PA, MD, DC, DE, WV, VA. The model's nonpoint source load reductions are estimates of what would occur under long-term avergaed rainfall conditions based on the years 1985-1994. The point source load reductions are actual measurements and are influenced by the reporting year’s rainfall.

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Who is involved? What is the timeline?

Section 7: Who? When?

We are all a part of the problem – All of us need to become part of the solution.

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Timeline for Removing Impairments toBay and River Water Quality


• 2010 – The Chesapeake 2000 agreement calls for Bay Program partners to have corrected the nutrient and sediment-related problems in the Chesapeake Bay and its tidal tributaries sufficiently to remove the Bay and the tidal portions of its tributaries from the list of impaired waters under the Clean Water Act.

• 2011 – Bay Program partners will begin development of TMDLs for any areas of the Bay that may still be listed for impairments due to nutrient and sediment related problems.

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Who’s involved?• Bay Program partners in this effort include the signatories

to the Chesapeake Bay agreement -- EPA (representing the Federal government), the jurisdictions of MD, PA, VA and DC, and the Chesapeake Bay Commission (representing MD, PA and VA state legislatures).

• The partnership for this effort was expanded through a Memorandum of Understanding to include the jurisdictions of DE, NY and WV.


Delaware

Maryland Virginia District of ColumbiaPennsylvaniaEPA CBC

New York West Virginia

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Who Needs to be Involved?

• Participate in restoration and protection efforts.• Hold Bay Program partners accountable!


We are all a part of the problem – All of us need to become part of the solution.

WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER

• Local governments and citizens and…• YOU need to become informed and get involved:

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Key Opportunities for Citizen Involvement


• 2003 - 2005 – participate in the the state water quality standards development process

• 2003 - 2004 – get involved with teams developing tributary strategies

• From now until 2010 – stay informed and involved and…hold Bay Program partners accountable!

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Water Quality Improvements Alone Will Not “Restore the Bay”

Section 8: Restoring the Complete Ecosystem

If we do not manage fisheries, no matter how clean the water becomes, we still may not have sustainable populations.

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Water Quality Improvements and Fisheries Management Are Still Not Enough


We need to protect and restore all habitats, not just water habitats.

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Water Quality Improvements,Fisheries Management and Habitat Protection and

Restoration Are Still Not Enough


We need to manage the way we use the land in watersheds.

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Water Quality Improvements, Fisheries Management, Habitat Protection and

Restoration, and Sound Land Useare Still Not Enough


We need to engage everyone to become better stewards of the watershed.

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Only By Integrating ALL Components of Chesapeake 2000 Can We Expect to

Restore the Bay


The agreement reflects the Bay’s complexity in that each action taken, like the elements of the Bay itself, is connected to all the others.

restoring and protecting chesapeake bay and river water quality june 2005

Documents

chesapeake bay program

bay stormwater

underwater bay grasses

problem slide

river water quality

water quality necessary

sources of nutrient

sediment pollution