Success on the Chesapeake Bay

Wastewater: Wastewater contains nitrogen and phosphorus from human waste, food, and certain soaps and detergents. While wastewater treatment plants are able to remove some nitrogen and phosphorus before discharging water, the discharge can still be a source of these nutrients in local waterbodies such as the Bay.

Stormwater runoff: Stormwater runoff flows occur after precipitation and carry nutrients and other pollutants into nearby waterways. When parking lots, paved roads and other impervious surfaces are present, stormwater flows directly through storm drains into local waterbodies.

Agriculture: Farmers may apply nutrients to their fields in the form of fertilizers and animal manure. These nutrients can be washed from fields into waterways during wet weather. Over time, they can also leach through the soil and into groundwater.

Eutrophication (eu·troph·i·ca·tion) occurs when an aquatic environment becomes enriched with nutrients increasing the amount of plant and algae growth. As algae die and decompose, oxygen is depleted from the water, which can result in "dead zones" where organisms no longer have enough oxygen to survive.  

To address declining water quality, state officials realized that cleanup efforts were not enough to drive meaningful restoration to the Bay and a larger effort would instead be necessary. 

A Total Maximum Daily Load, or TMDL, defines the maximum amount of a pollutant that a waterbody can receive while still meeting water quality standards. TMDLs are typically developed by states and approved by the EPA and are an important tool to help meet the goals of the Clean Water Act. 

The restoration funding has supported upgrades to all 67 major wastewater treatment plants that discharge into Maryland's portion of the Bay watershed, as well as additional updates to minor plants in the state. These upgrades are responsible for reducing approximately 7.5 million pounds of nitrogen to the Bay per year. 

In total, $233 million of the BRF has gone towards upgrading septic systems in Maryland. In 2022 alone, more than 910 failing septic systems were upgraded with the best available technology for nutrient removal, many of which were located in designated critical areas. In that same year, 137 homes that were previously using septic systems have been connected to public sewers that are capable of higher levels of nitrogen reduction. 

Cover crops use excess nutrients in the soil from fertilizer and help farmers prevent erosion and improve the quality of their soil. In 2022, more than 424,616 acres of cover crops were planted in Maryland using the BRF, helping to remove an estimated 3 million pounds of nitrogen and an additional 3,400 pounds of phosphorus.

"In the last 20 years, there has been a lot more concern [for the health of the Chesapeake Bay]. More people are paying attention and working to do the best we can for the Bay.”

Since the implementation of the BRF, the water quality of the Chesapeake Bay has shown significant signs of improvement. More than $1.9 billion has been collected since the program began, which has been used to prevent an estimated 8.5 million pounds of nitrogen from entering the Bay each year. 

Although the Maryland Department of the Environment's compliance inspections at Maryland's two largest wastewater treatment plants uncovered significant permit violations in 2021, after numerous corrective actions, recent inspections confirm that the plants are again meeting nutrient limits.

The volume of water in the Bay with low oxygen (hypoxia) was very low in 2023, the smallest Bay dead zone on record. While below-average rainfall in 2023 contributed to the historically small dead zone, continuing to reduce the amount of nutrients that enters the Bay will help limit the size of the dead zone in the future.

Thanks to the BRF and other restoration efforts, the population of oysters, the health of underwater grasses, and the health of streams in the watershed can continue to improve.

Hear from experts involved with the Bay Restoration Fund on the Clean Water Pod podcast.  Listen here! 

•  EPA Chesapeake Bay TMDL 
•  Maryland's 2021 Chesapeake Bay Annual Progress StoryMap 
•  2021 Progress by Source Sector StoryMap 
•  Maryland Department of the Environment – Bay Restoration Fund webpage 
•  10 reasons to be hopeful about the Chesapeake Bay in 2024 
•  Maryland's Strategies to Reduce Nutrients in Wastewater 
•  EPA SepticSmart Program 
•  Understanding Septic Systems: Ask This Old House Video 
•  Clean Water Pod Episode 3 
•  NEIWPCC 

 Chesapeake Bay Program FlickR page 

 Maryland Department of Natural Resources 

 Maryland Department of the Environment