ECOfreak: TMDL Update

By Desiree Parker Tuesday, February 07, 2012

Someone asked me yesterday where things stood locally on the Chesapeake Bay “pollution diet,” so I thought I’d offer a quick update.

The Environmental Protection Agency recently passed Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) regulations for Chesapeake Bay states to help restrict pollution from nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment in the troubled waterway.

Local governments have been worrying about how much it might cost to comply with the strict new rules. The Hampton Roads Planning District Commission, a group representing 16 local governments including the Triangle, estimated in 2010 it might cost the Triangle alone upwards of $85 million a year, but there are no official or more recent estimates.

The state is in the process of collecting data for the second stage of its Watershed Implementation Plan (WIP) that will tell the EPA how it plans to comply with the Bay TMDL.

Local governments received preliminary nutrient and sediment reduction goals and a set of Best Management Practices (BMP) to meet those goals. Triangle governments submitted data to the state a few weeks ago that includes implementation strategies and other information.

James City County submitted its required response, but along with other localities in the Triangle and the region, the county has some concerns about some of the calculations. Specifically, the concerns have to do with many of the BMPs and land uses designated by a modeling tool called the Virginia Assessment and Scenario Tool that was used to make the calculations.

In a nutshell, local governments don’t agree with some of the premises being used (based on the modeling tool data) to figure out how they are supposed to handle the new regulations. James City County noted some of these concerns in the document it sent to the state (look at the county’s website for details).

Plus, there are other factors to consider, such as how do you make one small area plan to clean up pollution that may have come from outside its borders? And how do you measure what’s successful? And can local governments count environmental projects they did last year (or in previous years) that are doing a good job keeping pollution down as part of their TMDL plan?

Probably the biggest question on local minds is how much all this will cost. That part of the equation hasn’t been figured out yet, but local government officials need to know as soon as possible so they can start planning.

I talked to John Horne, the general services manager in James City County, and I asked him if the $30 million stormwater bond referendum (read about that here) that failed a few years ago could have gone towards projects that would have helped the county meet TMDL goals. He said virtually all the projects would have helped.

I also asked if the county’s work on fixing sewer problems (read about that here) that will cost millions of dollars a year could help in the county’s TMDL efforts – he said that these fixes will help lower bacteria that may be escaping to waterways, which will help the health of the Bay overall.

So, that’s where things stand now. Look for more local government discussions on the TMDL in the near future, I’m sure.

More links:

The HRPDC compiled a supplemental report to support the local government reports due this month; if you’d like to read the report and learn more about some ideas local governments have on how to tackle the issue and some concerns they have about the process, click here.