Tributary Strategies Tools

The Tributary Strategy Tools Page serves as a resource to the Tributary Strategy coordinators and teams as they implement their Tributary Strategies. This page provides key information, presentations, data, and other tools to help each jurisdiction implement their Tributary Strategies. It is also a forum for sharing ideas and approaches for distilling down highly technical information into a form that stakeholders can understand and use in implementing their Strategies.

• Tributary Strategies
• Water Quality Goals
• Nutrient and Sediment Allocations
• Watershed Model Input Data
• Watershed Model Output Data
• Bay Program Technical Reports
• Best Management Practices

Tributary Strategies

Learn about each Chesapeake Bay Watershed jurisdiction's Tributary Strategies.

•  Maps of Tributary Strategy Basins .ppt (2.5 MB)

Water Quality Goals

• Principals' Memo from Staff Committee Chair (36 kb) - This memo serves as the record for the major decisions made by the Chesapeake Bay Program partners in developing the nutrient, sediment, and underwater grass goals.
• Underwater Grass Goals (22 kb) - The Chesapeake Bay Program has committed to restore 185,000 acres of submerged aquatic vegetation by 2010. The tables summarize the restoration goals by jurisdiction and by smaller basin segments.

Nutrient and Sediment Allocations

These tables summarize the nutrient and sediment allocations that have been assigned to each tributary and jurisdiction. The allocations represent the level of nutrient and sediment loads that must be achieved to attain the water quality necessary to restore the Chesapeake Bay.

• By Basin (152 kb)
• By Jurisdiction (146 kb)

Chesapeake Bay Program Watershed Model Input and Output Data

• Interpreting Model Progress Scenarios
• Loads and Landuse Acreage for the following:
  • Summary loads and landuse acreage for 1985, 2000-2007 scenarios with comparisons to Tributary Strategy goals and cap load allocations at the following scales and source categories
    • Chesapeake Bay-wide – all sources and by general specific source categories
    • Jurisdiction – all sources and by general specific source categories
    • Major basin – all sources and by general specific source categories
    • Jurisdiction-basin – all sources and by general specific source categories
  • Summary loads for trend analyses with replacements to 1985, 2000 and 2001 scenario loads to account for model adjustments
  • Detailed edge-of-stream and delivered loads and landuse acreage for the 2007 scenario at the scale of state-segments by specific source category
  • Detailed pre- and post-BMP landuse acreage for the 2007 scenario at the scale of county-segments and strategy basins
• Nonpoint Source Practice Implementation Levels:
  • Summary nonpoint source practice implementation levels by jurisdiction for 1985, 2000-2007 scenarios with comparisons to Tributary Strategy goals
  • Detailed practice implementation levels for the 2007 scenario at the scale of county-segments and strategy basins

Sources of Nutrient and Sediment Loads to the Bay by Sector

• Sources of Nitrogen Loads to the Bay
• Sources of Phosphorus Loads to the Bay
• Sources of Sediment Loads to the Bay

Chesapeake Bay Program Technical Reports

• Sediment in the Chesapeake Bay and Management Issues: Tidal Erosion Processes (233 kb) This report provides information on important tidal sediment processes and factors to consider before undertaking shoreline management actions to reduce tidal sediment loads.
• Setting and Allocating the Chesapeake Bay Basin Nutrient and Sediment Loads: The Collaborative Process, Technical Tools and Innovative Approaches - This document explains the collaborative process, technical tools and innovative approaches that made possible the successful allocation of nutrient and sediment cap loads to each jurisdiction by major tributary. These allocations are the Bay Program's goals for cleaning up the nutrient sediment problem in the Chesapeake Bay.
• Guiding Chesapeake Bay Water Quality Restoration (TSD/EA) (182 kb) - Technical support fact sheet on the use attainability analysis Technical Support Document and Economic Analyses Document
• Guiding Chesapeake Bay Water Quality Restoration (UAA) (169 kb) - Technical support fact sheet on conducting use attainability analyses (UAAs)
• Technical Support Document for the Identification of Chesapeake Bay Designated Uses and Attainability - This document is designed to help states in conducting use attainability analyses which states may conduct as part of their water quality standards development and adoption processes.
• Economic Analyses of Nutrients and Sediment Reduction Actions To Restore Chesapeake Bay Water Quality - This document provides economic analyses of nutrient and sediment reduction controls to meet revised criteria and designated uses.
• Nutrient Reduction Technology Cost Estimations for Point Sources in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed (4.4 MB) - This report provides costs estimates for treatment technologies associated with varying concentration levels of nitrogen and phosphorus removal from industrial and municipal wastewater plants in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
• Ambient Water Quality Criteria Document - This document details how the ambient water quality criteria for dissolved oxygen, water clarity, and chlorophyll a were derived for the Chesapeake Bay and its tidal tributaries.

Best Management Practices

• Mid-Atlantic Regional Water Program BMP Project Overview and Timeline for Year 2 (60 kb)
• Approach to Developing BMP Effectiveness Estimates (26 kb)
• Best Management Practices Template (Word Format - 39 kb) - Use this template to provide minimum evaluation materials.
• Agricultural BMP Effectiveness Estimates (208 kb)
• Urban BMP Effectiveness Estimates (77 kb)
• Policy for Adding New BMPs to the Model (123 kb) - This policy outlines the process for getting a new BMP approved for use in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Model.
• BMP Basics (1.1 MB) | Word Format (129 MB note: very large file)- This document provides a public-friendly description, photograph, and examples of each nonpoint source best management practice that is credited in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Model.
• Point Source Nitrogen Reduction Fact Sheet (191 kb) - This document provides information on point source nutrient reduction technologies, pollutant load reduction benefits, and costs.
• Technical Definitions for BMPs (110 kb) - This document provides a more in-depth and technical description of each agricultural BMP than is provided in the public-friendly BMP Basics.
• Nonpoint Source Best Management Practice Efficiencies Table (Revised 1-18-06)