“We’ve certainly made progress in reducing pollution, but the bottom line is 2025 is only a few years away, and it looks like it’s going to be a big stretch to meet the 2025 goals,” McGee says. While state plans to clean the bay include upgrading wastewater plants and reducing urban pollution, agriculture remains a key concern. Now, with the 2025 deadline approaching, the clock is ticking. In line with the Clean Water Act, the EPA agreed to hold states accountable to implement these plans over time. “The EPA distributed those caps of nitrogen and phosphorus to the states, and the states then developed plans in order to achieve those pollution reduction goals,” McGee says. Backed by years of science and studies, the EPA capped nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) pollution of the bay. In 2010, the Chesapeake Bay Blueprint was formed. While the framework was set, the voluntary commitments lacked accountability and little changed. Over the next few decades, a series of agreements followed. “The pollutants were coming from all six states in the bay watershed and the District of Columbia, so it needed to be a watershed-wide effort to restore down - stream water quality.” “It was prompted by a 1977 study that identified nitrogen and phosphorus as the main pollutants affecting the bay,” McGee says.
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