CANCELED: PA Chesapeake Bay Watershed Planning Steering Committee Meets April 3 To Review First Draft Of Plan

DEP HAS CANCELED the April 3 PA Chesapeake Bay Watershed Implementation Plan Steering Committee to review the first draft of the Watershed Implementation Plan that includes recommendations from the Committee workgroups and other elements.

The next scheduled meeting is April 24 in Room 105 of the Rachel Carson Building from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m.  Click Here to attend the meeting by webinar.  Participants will also need to call in 1-650-479-3208, PASSCODE: 644 234 728

For more information and copies of available handouts, visit the PA Chesapeake Bay Watershed Implementation Plan Steering Committee webpage.

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The PA Chesapeake Bay Watershed Implementation Plan Steering Committee is scheduled to meet on April 3 to review the first draft of the Watershed Implementation Plan that includes recommendations from the Committee workgroups and other elements.

Resource Needs

A key element is the resources Pennsylvania needs to implement the Plan.

On March 22, the Funding Workgroup estimated an annual funding gap of $244.5 million over at least the next 6 years totaling $1.467 billion to implement practices needed to meet Pennsylvania’s Bay cleanup obligations.

If Pennsylvania continued with its existing programs and resources, it would miss the 2025 nitrogen reduction goal by at least 19 years (2044).

Click Here for more on the Funding Workgroup recommendations.

Other Workgroups Recommendations

Several other Workgroups gave recommendations to the Steering Committee over the last 6 months--

-- Agriculture Workgroup

-- Stormwater Workgroup

-- Forestry Workgroup

-- Wastewater Workgroup

County Plans

On March 8, the Steering Committee adopted a schedule for the 43 counties in the Pennsylvania portion of the Bay Watershed to complete the county-level clean water planning process to develop detailed plans for meeting county nutrient reduction goals.

Four pilot counties-- Adams, Franklin, Lancaster and York-- have completed or nearly completed their plans.  Lancaster and York, however, account for 25 percent of the reductions needed to meet Pennsylvania’s total reduction obligation.

The remainder of the 7 counties in DEP’s Tier 1 list of counties is responsible for 50 percent of the state’s Chesapeake Bay water pollution reduction goal would start the planning process in July and complete planning by February.

The planning process for the remaining 36 counties in Tiers 2, 3 and 4 responsible for the other half of the reductions would start in October and be due in late 2020.

Click Here for more on this schedule.

The meeting will be held in the 2nd Floor Auditorium, Rachel Carson Building starting at 9:00 a.m. to review the draft of the Watershed Implementation Plan.  Click Here to join the meeting via Skype.   Participants may also need to call in +1 (267) 332-8737. CONFERENCE ID: 75588007.

For more information and copies of available handouts, visit the PA Chesapeake Bay Watershed Implementation Plan Steering Committee webpage.