How will Virginia’s allowable nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment loads be determined?
The Chesapeake Bay Program, led by EPA, will use Bay Program models to set nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment load caps for Virginia that meet our state’s water quality standards. The data will be used to further distribute the EPA assigned state caps among the major river basins and the 35 segments that make up Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay watershed. The general philosophy in distributing these loads is that watersheds that contribute the most to the problem should achieve the greatest reductions. However, meeting water quality standards and achieving the desired living resource response is the ultimate driver. It is anticipated that the initial drafts of these state, basin and segment cap loads will be completed in Spring 2010. These loads will then be allocated to sources in each of Virginia’s 35 segments.
