Chesapeake Bay Program Implementation Committee Briefing on Water Quality Steering Committee Activities: Introduction and Background Bill Matuszeski Chesapeake Bay Program Office Annapolis, Maryland January 24, 2001
Jan 14, 2016
Chesapeake Bay Program Implementation Committee Briefing on
Water Quality Steering Committee Activities:
Introduction and Background
Bill Matuszeski
Chesapeake Bay Program Office
Annapolis, Maryland
January 24, 2001
Components
• Designated uses
• Criteria
• Standards
• Impairments
• TMDLs
Characteristics of Existing State Designated Uses
• Reflect jurisdictional boundaries, not resource habitats
• May build in low vs. high salinity waters delineation but only for determining which EPA criteria to apply (freshwater vs. saltwater)
• Use language still boils down to protection of “fishable/swimable”
Relevant EPA Criteria
• Dissolved oxygen– Only freshwater criteria were available until this winter
– EPA published saltwater criteria for the Cape Cod to Cape Hatteras region in December 2000
• Nitrogen– Criteria for nitrate, ammonia based on toxicity effect,
not eutrophication connection
Relevant EPA Criteria
• Phosphorus– Criteria based on toxicity of elemental phosphorus
• Chlorophyll a– No national criteria exist currently
• Water Clarity– Some references to turbidity, but no real criteria address
water clarity
Existing State Standards
• Dissolved oxygen– Maryland: not less than 5 mg/L
– Virginia, Delaware: 5 mg/L average, 4 mg/L minimum
• Chlorophyll a– No existing state standards
• Water Clarity– Delaware, DC: not more than 10-20 Nephelometric units
(NTUs) above natural levels, respectively
– Maryland: 50 units monthly average, never exceed 150 NTUs