The interim progress report recently came out from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and Choose Clean Water Coalition. The report evaluates the progress toward attaining their 2017 pollution reduction milestones for the 6 states and D.C. that consist of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. The pollutants measured are: Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Sediment. The sources of pollution under scrutiny are: Agriculture, Urban/suburban pollution runoff, Waste water, and Septic systems. The states monitored consist of (In order of best to worst): West Virginia, D.C., Delaware, Virginia, Maryland, New York, and Pennsylvania.
The only category that WV fell short on was urban/suburban pollution runoff where we were less than 10% short of our goal, and we here in the panhandle are working on that issue through the implementation of many ongoing projects such as; tree plantings, streetscape/permeable pavers, and rain barrel and rain garden programs.
These milestones are critical components to Bay restoration efforts because they provide a mechanism to hold our government agencies accountable for short-term progress toward the long-term pollution reduction goals. The milestones enable the states and the EPA to identify shortcomings and take corrective actions before the deadline arrives.
Take heart WV watershed associations, our efforts are paying off! Let’s keep up the good work.
You can check out the milestones interim progress chart at: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#label/waterkeepers/14eb6df376f4170b?projector=1