Upcoming Meetings

No upcoming meetings.

Scope and Purpose

The Chesapeake Bay watershed jurisdictions have raised several questions and concerns related to Best Management Practice (BMP) verification implementation and reporting. These questions (e.g., credit duration1 and lifespan2 of BMPs) were highlighted by the Water Quality Goal Implementation Team (WQGIT) in a letter to the Management Board in September 2019. To address these questions, several issues and associated actions were described during a Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP) partnership BMP verification meeting in January 2020. An outcome of that meeting was the Management Board charging the WQGIT with convening an ad-hoc action team to discuss the Partnership’s verification efforts including BMP credit duration and lifespan.

The ad-hoc BMP verification action team will represent the WQGIT signatory representatives, WQGIT at-large members, source sector workgroups, advisory committees, and include national experts on verification. All entities listed above may, but are not required to, have an active voting member who represents them as part of this team. It is critical, however, that the WQGIT approves the action team’s charge, timeline, and deliverables.

The ad-hoc BMP verification action team will:

  • Explore alternatives to BMP re-verification. What is the potential for partial credit, or variable credit through time? Animal Waste Management Systems may serve as a case study to consider this issue. An important component of this exploration should include a primer on the purpose of the watershed model.
  • Revisit credit duration. What is the best available information to determine BMP credit duration for both current and new BMPs? What multiple lines of evidence can be used to update BMP-specific credit durations? There is an opportunity to re-assess the established credit durations and update them using multiple lines of evidence (e.g., more up-to-date data, lessons learned during preceding years, and best professional judgement for how best to use the evidence, including the most up-to-date Expert Panel reports with accompanying appendices).
  • Explore lesser-used approaches to BMP verification. As outlined in the Partnership’s BMP Verification Framework, there are several approaches to verifying BMPs that are not being used to their full potential. For example, given developments in remote sensing, can BMPs be verified remotely using new technologies such as smart sensors and drones? Other opportunities could include the self-reporting of on-the-ground BMPs by farmers, businesses, NGOs, and other stakeholders or BMP verification using performance-based metrics or presumed compliance principles.
  • Review recommendations from ongoing BMP verification work being undertaken by the Chesapeake Bay Program. Multiple issues (e.g., timing of updates for BMP verification plans, data collection, verification expectations, and verification costs into the Chesapeake Assessment Scenario Tool) and actions (e.g., charge the Watershed Technical Workgroup to develop options for updating and submitting changes to jurisdictions’ Quality Assurance Project Plans) were noted by the Management Board during the BMP verification meeting in January 2020. Many of these issues have been directed to the partnership’s Watershed Technical Workgroup. As verification recommendations advance for approval, the ad-hoc action team will review those recommendations and ensure the recommendations are consistent with the CBP partnership’s verification framework. Upon review, the ad-hoc team’s recommendations will move forward to be reviewed by the appropriate technical workgroup before final approval by the WQGIT.

Projects and Resources

Members

Jason Keppler (Vice Chair), Maryland Department of Agriculture
Address:
50 Harry S Truman Parkway
Annapolis, Maryland 21401

Email:  jason.keppler@maryland.gov
Vanessa Van Note (Coordinator), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Address:
1750 Forest Drive Suite 130
Annapolis, Maryland 21401

Email:  vannote.vanessa@epa.gov
Phone:  (410) 267-5756
Jackie Pickford (Staffer), Geographer, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)
Address:
1750 Forest Drive Suite 130
Annapolis, Maryland 21401

Email:  pickford.jacqueline@epa.gov
Matt Ehrhart, Stakeholders' Advisory Committee
Address:
970 Spencer Road
Avondale, Pennsylvania 1931-9514

Email:  mehrhart@stroudcenter.org
Phone:  (610) 268-2153 x308
KC Filippino, Hampton Roads Planning District Commission
Address:
723 Woodlake Dr
Cheasapeake, Virginia 23320

Email:  kfilippino@hrpdcva.gov
Rebecca Hanmer, Retired
Address:
138 Caroline Street
Fredericksburg, Virginia 22401

Email:  rwhanmer@yahoo.com
Phone:  (540) 371-8787
Normand Goulet, Northern Virginia Regional Commission
Address:
3060 Williams Drive
Suite 510
Fairfax, Virginia 22031

Email:  ngoulet@novaregion.org
Phone:  (703) 642-4634
Gary Felton
Address:
1424 Animal Sci./Ag. Engr. Bldg
College Park, Maryland 20742

Email:  gfelton@umd.edu
Jessica Rodriguez, U.S. Department of Defense (DOD)
Address:
1510 Gilbert Street, Building  N26
Norfolk, Virginia 23511

Email:  Jessica.m.rodriguez@navy.mil
Curtis Dell, USDA Agricultural Research Service
Address:
Agricultural Research Service
Building 3702, Curtin Road
University Park, Pennsylvania 16802

Email:  curtis.dell@ars.usda.gov
Phone:  (814) 863-0984
Dana York, Green Earth Connection
Address:
108 South Liberty Street
Centreville, Maryland 21617

Email:  dyork818@yahoo.com
Phone:  (410) 708-6794
Joe Wood, Chesapeake Bay Foundation
Address:
1108 E. Main St
Richmond, Virginia 23219

Email:  jwood@cbf.org
Suzanne Trevena, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency - Region 3
Address:
1650 Arch Street
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103

Email:  trevena.suzanne@epa.gov
Phone:  (215) 814-5701
Adrienne Kotula, Chesapeake Bay Commission
Address:
60 West Street
Annapolis, Maryland 21401

Email:  Akotula@chesbay.us
Gregorio Sandi, Maryland Department of the Environment
Address:
1800 Washington Blvd.
Baltimore, Maryland 21230

Email:  gsandi@mde.state.md.us
Cassandra Davis, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
Address:
625 Broadway
Albany, New York 12233

Email:  cassandra.davis@dec.ny.gov
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
Clare Gooch, Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control
Address:
100 W. Water St.
Suite 10B
Dover, Delaware 19904

Email:  clare.gooch@delaware.gov
Phone:  (302) 672-1156
Matt English, District of Columbia Department of Energy & Environment (DOEE)
Address:
1200 First Street NE
Washington D.C., District of Columbia 20002

Email:  matthew.english@dc.gov
James Martin, Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation
Address:
600 E. Main St
Suite 1104
Richmond, Virginia 23219

Email:  james.e.martin@dcr.virginia.gov
Phone:  (804) 786-2291
Jill Whitcomb, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection
Address:
400 Market Street
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17101

Email:  jiwhitcomb@pa.gov