Upcoming Meetings

Scope and Purpose

The charge of the cross-sector Watershed Technical Workgroup is to provide a forum for communication and discussion between and among the jurisdictions and other CBP participants on technical issues related to Best Management Practices (BMPs), Chesapeake Bay Watershed Model processes, and management strategy development and implementation reporting. Functions include:

• Support the Water Quality Goal Implementation Team (WQGIT) and the greater Bay Program partners in implementing management strategies to achieve the nutrient and sediment reductions necessary to restore the Bay.

• Support development of BMP Expert Panel technical appendices.

• Review and approve the recommended BMP definitions and efficiencies from source workgroups and local jurisdictions, in collaboration with the Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee (STAC) and WQGIT workgroups. Ensure that BMPs are consistent across sectors and communicated clearly.

• Review and approve how BMPs are simulated in the Watershed Model to ensure that the assumptions accurately reflect real world conditions and are consistent and equitable between the different sectors.

• Review and approve how BMPs are tracked and reported by CBP partner jurisdictions and agencies for use in the Watershed Model to ensure that the assumptions accurately reflect real world conditions and are consistent and equitable between the different sectors and are communicated clearly.

• Provide technical review & recommendations to the CBP Modeling team and WQGIT on updates to Watershed Model Processes, input data, and assessment of annual progress.

Projects and Resources

Publications

Advanced OWTS BMP Panel report

The Chesapeake Bay On-site Wastewater Nitrogen Removal BMP Expert Review Panel was reconvened to specifically evaluate two proposed BMPs:

  1. Drip irrigation (at a higher TN reduction credit than currently given under the “Shallow-Placed, Pressure-Dosed Dispersal” BMP) and
  2. Peat biofiltration systems discharging to a pad or trench

Upon review of available data, the Panel recommends creating a new, creditable BMP for Drip Irrigation, which has been shown to result in a 50 percent net TN reduction through Zone 1 in the drainfield. Qualifying characteristics for the new BMP, which are described in detail in the report, require the use of pressure compensating emitters, maximum not to exceed loading rates for three different soil types and exclusion of the credit for drip systems installed in Type I (sand textured) soils.

The Panel recommends that peat systems discharging to a pad or trench not be included by the CBP as a new BMP. In particular, existing data were from studies not designed to explicitly address nitrogen removal and the TN results were highly variable and thus inconclusive. The data do appear to support crediting peat filters a 20 percent net TN reduction as an ex situ BMP, consistent with similar technologies which fall under creditable BMPs: Intermittent Media Filters and NSF Standard 40 Systems.

The Panel further recommends that the CBP track efforts underway in EPA Regions 1 and 2 to develop nitrogen sensors specific to monitoring on-site wastewater systems and to consider using such sensors (or other appropriate methods) to verify the performance of BMPs that have been approved and are being implemented in the watershed. Recommendations for outstanding research questions are also provided (the reader is further referred to the 2014 predecessor report on OWTS Nitrogen Removal BMPs and the 2016 OWTS Nitrogen Attenuation report for additional recommendations for the CBP).

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Members

Cassandra Davis (Chair), New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
Address:
625 Broadway
Albany, New York 12233

Email:  cassandra.davis@dec.ny.gov
Auston Smith (Coordinator), Life Scientist, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Address:
1750 Forest Drive Suite 130
Annapolis, Maryland 21401

Email:  Smith.Auston@epa.gov
Phone:  410-267-5724
Sushanth Gupta (Staffer), Water Quality Goal Implementation Team Staffer, Chesapeake Research Consortium
Address:
1750 Forest Drive Suite 130
Annapolis, Maryland 21401

Email:  gupta.sushanth@epa.gov
Normand Goulet, Northern Virginia Regional Commission
Address:
3060 Williams Drive
Suite 510
Fairfax, Virginia 22031

Email:  ngoulet@novaregion.org
Phone:  (703) 642-4634
Angela Jones, U.S. Department of Defense (DOD)
Gregorio Sandi, Maryland Department of the Environment
Address:
1800 Washington Blvd.
Baltimore, Maryland 21230

Email:  gsandi@mde.state.md.us
Bill Keeling, Virginia Department of Environmental Quality
Address:
P O Box 1105
Richmond, Virginia 23218

Email:  william.keeling@deq.virginia.gov
Phone:  (804) 698-4342
Scott Heidel, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection
Address:
400 Market Street
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17101

Email:  scheidel@pa.gov
Phone:  (717) 772-5647
Alicia Ritzenthaler, District of Columbia Department of Energy & Environment (DOEE)
Address:
1200 First Street NE
Washington, District of Columbia 20002

Email:  alicia.ritzenthaler@dc.gov
Chris Brosch, Delaware Department of Agriculture
Address:
2320 S. Dupont Highway
Dover, Delaware 19901

Email:  chris.brosch@state.de.us
Phone:  (302) 698-4555
Alana Hartman, West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection
Address:
22288 Northwestern Pike
Romney, West Virginia 26757

Email:  alana.c.hartman@wv.gov
Phone:  (304) 822-7266
Jeff Sweeney, Integrated Analysis Coordinator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Address:
1750 Forest Drive Suite 130
Annapolis, Maryland 21401

Email:  sweeney.jeff@epa.gov
Phone:  (410) 267-9844