Conservation

In September, the EPA Chesapeake Bay Program Office released draft water quality criteria for chlorophyll a—a measure of the amount of algae in the water—which, if adopted by the states, would join water clarity and dissolved oxygen as the key measures that indicate whether areas of the Chesapeake are healthy or “impaired.”

The criteria are open for public comment until Oct. 13. Developed in consultation with representatives from all of the states in the Bay watershed, the criteria are expected to eventually be adopted as legally enforceable water quality standards by jurisdictions bordering tidal waters.

The EPA in 2003 developed Bay-specific dissolved oxygen and water clarity criteria which, when they were adopted by the states, became the driving force for nutrient and sediment reductions throughout the ...