Pennsylvania is making progress, but needs to do more for clean water

The Chesapeake Bay Clean Water Blueprint is made up of the Bay pollution limits (TMDL) and state-specific plans to achieve these pollution limits. The Bay states committed to reduce pollutants enough to remove the Bay from the nation’s impaired waters list by 2025, and to be 60 percent of the way to that goal by 2017.

In order to stay on track, Bay states committed to two-year goals -- or milestones -- which allow progress to be measured with respect to the larger 2017 and 2025 pollution reduction goals by taking a critical look at the implementation rates of pollution reducing practices and programs.

Yesterday, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and the Choose Clean Water Coalition, of which PennFuture serves as the lead organization for Pennsylvania, released their report evaluating Pennsylvania’s progress. We evaluated eight practices/programs: five from the agricultural sector, two from the stormwater sector, and one from the wastewater sector. Pennsylvania achieved its 2013 goals for four of the eight practices, however, particularly concerning is the gap between what has been done and what needs to be done by 2017.

We’ve made great progress when it comes to permitting wastewater treatment facilities but we’re struggling with agricultural practices and urban and suburban stormwater management. We’re only halfway to our 2017 goal for installation of forest buffers, one of the most cost-effective practices to improve water quality. To meet its 2017 goal, Pennsylvania needs to install 50 new acres of forest buffers per day. You can read more about each of the practices here. 

The Chesapeake Bay Clean Water Blueprint has given us a clear path to clean water. While we’ve made progress, we still have a lot of work ahead of us. In order to meet our goals, we need cooperation and collaboration between government, industry, and citizens as well as a sense of urgency and dedication to cleaning up our waters.

Reducing pollution isn’t just good for the Chesapeake Bay, it’s good for Pennsylvania. By reducing the amount of pollution in the Susquehanna and its tributaries, we’re protecting our drinking water, improving fish habitat, and increasing the number of places we can safely swim and boat. It’s pretty simple -- you can’t have a clean Chesapeake Bay without a clean Susquehanna River.

Jennifer Quinn is central Pennsylvania outreach coordinator for PennFuture and is based in Harrisburg. She tweets @QuinnJen1.