Delaware's Chesapeake Bay Watershed Implementation Plan (WIP)
ADVISORY: Delaware’s Final Phase II WIP is available for review
Delaware is among six Chesapeake Bay Watershed states – along with Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New York – and the District of Columbia committed to a federal-state initiative to develop a pollution "diet" that will help restore the water quality of the Bay and its tidal waters by 2025.
The Bay and many streams that drain to the Bay from each state suffer from excess pollution and must be cleaned up. The Environmental Protection Agency is leading the effort by developing a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) for nutrients and sediment for the Chesapeake Bay and its tidal branches. A TMDL is the maximum amount of a pollutant that a body of water can receive and still meet water quality standards that protect humans and aquatic life. Delaware has already established State TMDLs for impaired waters in the Chesapeake, but this EPA TMDL will call for additional reductions.
Areas of Delaware (yellow portion of state map) within the Chesapeake Bay Watershed - which spans Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New York, and the District of Columbia (as shown on the smaller map).
As part of the TMDL, each jurisdiction is required to develop a Watershed Implementation Plan (WIP) that details how load goals will be achieved and maintained into the future. This work is being done in three phases. Draft Phase I WIPs were due to EPA on September 1, 2010 and final plans were turned in on November 29, 2010. Phase II WIPs in draft and final forms were due to EPA by December 15, 2011 and March 30, 2012, respectively. Phase III WIPs must be received by EPA in 2017. With each successive WIP, the detail of load goals and actions to achieve those goals will become increasingly more specific.
Delaware's WIP work is being led by an Interagency Workgroup made up of representatives from DNREC; Delaware Department of Agriculture; Department of Transportation; Office of State Planning Coordination; County Conservation Districts; U.S. Department of Agriculture agencies; U.S. Geological Survey; and other stakeholders such as representatives from the farming and development communities. Nine subcommittees were formed to address: agriculture; stormwater; wastewater; land use and comprehensive plans; restoration; public lands; funding; information technology; and communications.
WIP Phases
Delaware's Phase I WIP was finalized November 2010 and was used to develop the EPA TMDL that was released December 2010.
Phase II work occured in 2011 and early 2012. The Phase II WIP provides additional details about the partner organizations who will implement portions of the WIP, specifies when actions will occur, and identifies the resources necessary for success. Additionally, some of the implementation goals identified in the Phase I WIP have been parsed down to a smaller scale, such as at the County level. Finally, the Phase II plan establishes implemenation goals for 2017, which is when 60 percent of the necessary nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment goals must be achieved.
More WIP Information
Workshops – view information from previous WIP related workshops
WIP Funding Resources for Municipalities in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed
A brochure, Delaware's Role in Cleaning Up Our Chesapeake Waterways, is available for addressing frequently asked questions about the Delaware WIP.
Our Waters, Our Towns, Local Governments' Role in the WIPs
EPA Expectations and Consequenses
2-Year Milestones Goals to help achieve the TMDL and WIP
ChesapeakeStat – view data and information on progress toward meeting Chesapeake goals!
