York
County is located on the west side of the Susquehanna River, which supplies
roughly 50 percent of the water to the Chesapeake Bay. The Chesapeake Bay water
quality has degraded to a poor condition and, despite extensive restoration
efforts (since 1985), the poor water quality has continued. This necessitated
the U.S> Environmental Protection Agency to establish a “pollution diet” for
the Bay, or total maximum daily loads (TMDL) of nutrients, sediment and toxic
pollutants.
Pennsylvania
has developed a Chesapeake Bay Watershed Implementation Plan (WIP), which sets
forth a strategy for the Commonwealth to achieve the required pollutant
reductions mandate by the Bay TMDL
The
Chesapeake Bay TMDL is unique for Pennsylvania in the sense that the legal
requirement for pollution reductions falls upon the state, while land use
authority, which enables the practices and the construction of structures to
reduce pollution, is delegated to local municipalities.
Pennsylvania
has taken its total pollution reduction requirement and divided it among the
counties in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed and identified draft county reduction
targets for nutrients, sediment and toxic pollutants.
The USEPA has made it clear in the TMDL,
and Pennsylvania has acknowledged this in its WIP,
that there will be consequences should
Pennsylvania not make significant progress towards
achieving its required reductions.
All the background information along
with explanations of all existing requirements and
programs, referred to above, are
included in the Chesapeake Bay TMDL and the Pennsylvania
WIP. The main objective of the York County
Watershed Implementation Plan is to convey four
(4) key points:
1. The
Chesapeake Bay is polluted with nutrients and sediment;
2. The
Federal Government (USEPA) has told Pennsylvania that it needs to reduce
pollution by a specified amount and timeframe;
3. Pennsylvania
has developed a Plan documenting how the state will meet its mandate, which includes
voluntary actions by local entities, ensuring compliance with existing
regulations, and increasing monitoring and reporting of pollution reduction
efforts; and
4. If
the required pollutant reductions are not met as measured every two (2) years,
the USEPA will take action to ensure the reductions happen. These actions may
include increased permitting and withholding of federal funding under EPA’s
authority.
