Strengthening Verification of Best Management Practices Implemented in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed
- Published:
- October 1, 2014
- Originator:
- CBPO
- Associated with:
- Water Quality Goal Implementation Team (GIT 3)
Stakeholder groups, communities and people across the 64,000 square foot Chesapeake Bay region must have confidence that there is strong science behind the Chesapeake Bay “pollution diet” (known as the Total Maximum Daily Load or TMDL) and each jurisdiction’s strategy (called a Watershed Implementation Plan or WIP) for putting practices in place to meet nutrient and sediment reduction goals. In order to foster this confidence, the Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP) partners’ work must be open and transparent for all interested parties. We must also be fully responsive to calls by the Chesapeake Executive Council, CBP’s Citizens Advisory Committee, and Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee, and groups such as the National Academy of Sciences and mandates under the federal Executive Order—all of which demand improvements in the transparency and scientific rigor of our efforts. While our attention must be given to the tracking and crediting of the diverse technologies, treatment techniques and best practices intended to reduce the flow of nutrients and sediments to our waters, we must also be vigilant in our efforts to verify that these practices, known as ‘best management practices” or BMPs, are working and continue to work properly. This document provides a detailed framework by which the Bay Program partners will build rigor and transparency for BMP verification up through the partnership and disseminate it through our many local partners who are ultimately responsible for the on-the-ground implementation of BMPs that will reduce the nutrient and sediment pollutants reaching local waters and the Bay.