Fact Sheet: EPA's Expectations for Phase III Watershed Implementation Plans
- Published:
- June 21, 2018
- Categorized in:
- Fact Sheet
In 2010, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) established the Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load (Bay TMDL). This historic clean-up plan provides a guide for reducing pollution and restoring clean water to the Chesapeake Bay and its local rivers, streams and creeks. To guide these efforts, Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia (collectively referred to as the “Bay jurisdictions”) created a series of roadmaps—known as watershed implementation plans (WIPs)—describing how each would achieve the pollution reductions called for in the Bay TMDL.
There are three phases of WIPs. Phase I and II WIPs were developed in 2010 and 2012, respectively, and describe actions to be implemented by 2017 and 2025 to achieve the goals of the Bay TMDL. Phase III WIPs, under development in the 2018 to 2019 timeframe, will describe actions Bay jurisdictions intend to implement to meet Bay restoration goals by 2025. Despite some jurisdictions having to do more in order to achieve their nutrient and sediment targets, each of the seven Bay jurisdictions reaffirmed their commitment to having all the practices and controls in place by 2025 to meet applicable water quality standards in the Chesapeake Bay.
On June 20, 2018, the EPA released its expectations for the Phase III WIPs, detailing what these documents should entail. Read the full expectations document.