The Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) requires NASA LaRC to develop a Chesapeake Bay TMDL Action Plan that is submitted to the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ).
What is the Action Plan?
The Chesapeake Bay is listed as impaired due to excess amounts of sediment and nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus). Federal Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) operators, like other MS4s, are given three full permit cycles (15 years total) to achieve the necessary reductions. For more information on the Chesapeake Bay TMDL Program, and why it is important to the Bay’s health, please click here.
In the Chesapeake Bay Action Plan, LaRC provides an overview of several management practices and retrofit programs that will be implemented to achieve the reduction of the aforementioned pollutants. Specifically, in the Phase III of this Action Plan, LaRC outlines the practices that are to be implemented from November 1, 2023 to October 31, 2028 to achieve the remaining reductions for existing sources.
Click here to read LaRC’s Chesapeake Bay Action Plan – Phase III, where you’ll find more detailed information on reductions required, how LaRC achieved reductions during the previous permit cycles, and what LaRC has in store for the future!
If you have comments on the Action Plan, please contact the LaRC Water Program Manager, Sarat Calamur, at extension 4-4791 or sarat.c.calamur@nasa.gov.
