Michael S. Regan 16th Administrator, United States Environmental Protection Agency | Official Website
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the results of its evaluation of the Chesapeake Bay jurisdictions' two-year milestones today. The report indicates that although most Bay states are lagging, they are progressing toward meeting the 2025 water quality restoration goals. Notably, 2023 witnessed significant state-level successes expected to improve the restoration trajectory.
The two-year milestone reports are prepared by the Chesapeake Bay jurisdictions—Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia. These reports serve as key checkpoints on the path to having all pollutant reduction measures in place by 2025. This goal was established by the Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP) partnership, which includes seven Bay jurisdictions along with numerous local governments, federal partners, organizations, and academic institutions.
Watershed-wide, the partnership continues to make incremental progress towards achieving its 2025 goal. To date, practices have been implemented to achieve 100% of targeted sediment reductions and practices are in place for 57% of nitrogen reductions and 67% of phosphorus reductions. However, additional efforts are required to meet the remaining nitrogen and phosphorus targets by 2025. Highlights include Pennsylvania and Virginia increasing agricultural sector reductions in 2023 and ongoing investments aimed at accelerating implementation.
"Enforcement, engagement, investments & accountability—these efforts have helped us accelerate progress across the Bay and in all sectors—especially agriculture," said EPA Mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator Adam Ortiz. "The dedication of all our partners working together is paying off and making a difference in the Bay watershed."
"By analyzing the monitoring data in 2023 we can see the Chesapeake Bay improving in most areas of the watershed," said Bill Dennison, professor and vice president at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. "This improvement is a testament to efforts to reduce nutrients through various reduction strategies while enhancing riparian buffers throughout the watershed.”
For more details on milestone reports and ongoing cleanup efforts for Chesapeake Bay visit our website.
