DELAWARE DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL
Dec. 2, 2009
Vol. 39, No. 462
Contact: John Schneider, Division of Water Resources, 302-739-9939; or Melanie Rapp, Public Affairs, 302-739-9902.
EPA and DNREC to Hold Public Meeting Dec. 10 in Laurel on New Pollution Reduction Actions for the Chesapeake Bay Watershed
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, along with the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, will hold a public meeting Thursday, Dec. 10 to discuss water pollution reduction measures and implementation plans for the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. The meeting will be held from 5 until 7 p.m. at the auditorium of the Laurel Senior High School, 1131 S. Central Avenue in Laurel.
The Laurel meeting is one of 14 public meetings being held November through mid-December in six states and the District of Columbia that address the actions necessary to meet the clean water standards of the Chesapeake Bay and its network of local rivers, streams and creeks.
Monitoring data continues to show that the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries have poor water quality, degraded habitats and low populations of many species of fish and shellfish. Excess nutrients and sediment from urban and suburban runoff, wastewater, agricultural operations, airborne contaminants and other sources have negatively impacted the health of the Bay and watershed.
The EPA is working with its state partners and the District of Columbia (D.C.) to set restrictions on nutrient and sediment pollution through a Total Maximum Daily Load, or TMDL, a regulatory tool of the federal Clean Water Act that specifies the maximum amount of pollution that a waterbody can receive and still meet water quality standards. The Bay TMDL – a combination of 92 smaller TMDLs for individual Chesapeake Bay tidal segments – will include limits on nutrients and sediment sufficient to achieve state and D.C. clean water standards.
At the Laurel meeting, EPA’s Robert Koroncai and Katherine Antos will explain what needs to be done to clean up the Bay and the timetable to develop and implement the TMDL. The state’s next steps and implementation plans and will presented by Jennifer Volk, environmental scientist with DNREC’s Division of Water Resources.

Public comments will be encouraged and questions will be fielded by a panel of stakeholders and environmental officials, including: DNREC Deputy Secretary David Small; DNREC Division of Water Resources Director Kathy Bunting-Howarth; Delaware Department of Agriculture Secretary Ed Kee; Sussex Conservation District Coordinator, Debbie Absher; Sussex County Administrator David Baker; Nanticoke Watershed Alliance Programs Manager Megan Ward; Seaford City Manager Dolores Slatcher; Farm Bill Program Specialist Tim Garrahan; and EPA’s Katherine Antos and Bob Koroncai.
Actions under the TMDL will complement significant and ongoing work by several partners to restore the Bay and will have significant benefits beyond the Chesapeake itself, helping to clean local waterways that support fishing and swimming and often serve as a source of local drinking water for some of the more than 17 million people who live in the watershed. The TMDL for the 64,000-square mile watershed will be the largest and most complex pollution reduction project ever developed.
Additional information about the Chesapeake Bay TMDL and the meeting can be found at http://www.epa.gov/chesapeakebaytmdl/.