By Bridgett Lynn
Charlottesville Tomorrow
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
On May 20, 2010, the
Rivanna Conservation Society
held their Third Thursday Brown Bag lunch meeting and discussed protection efforts for the Chesapeake Bay. The featured speaker was Rick Parrish, a senior attorney from the
Southern Environmental Law Center
.
Listen using player above or download the podcast:
Download 20100525-BayTMDL
Over the course of the hour, Parrish talked about the watershed and the Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL), which refers to the total amount of pollutants allowed to enter into a body of water before water quality becomes impaired. He discussed the TMDL’s history, significance, and goals in the Chesapeake Bay area.
Parrish finished up the presentation describing some of the successes that the Bay has seen to date, and next steps on the schedule for the TMDL and local Watershed Implementation Plans (WIPs).
The draft TMDL plan for the entire Chesapeake Bay will be completed by August 1, 2010, after which the public review process will begin. The EPA is expected to release its final Chesapeake Bay cleanup plan in December 2010.
TIMELINE FOR PODCAST
00:46 — Robbi Savage introduces speaker
01:46 — Rick Parrish gives background on TMDL
08:23 — Question about former directors of the bay program
09:14 — Parrish outlines Bay problems
10:11 — Parrish talks about obligations of EPA
11:12 — Question about organic sediments
11:53 — Question about focus on Nitrogen and Phosphorous
13:07 — Question about contribution that West Virginia makes to Bay
13:24 — Parrish describes picture where the dissolved oxygen problems are in the bay on slide 3
13:45 — Parrish describes Bay health assessment on slide 4
17:08 — Question on acceptable level of dissolved oxygen
18:24 — Parrish shows Bay watershed on slide 5
22:48 — Question about upstream Potomac requirements for Bay TMDL
24:41 — Question about TMDLs for Virginia
25:17 — Question about comparing the goals to the different segments of Rivanna
29:13 — Parrish describes TMDL plans
32:21 — Parrish describes symbolic representation of the Bay TMDL on slide 5
35:03 — Parrish showing reflection on how bay model is improving on slide 6
35:52 — Parrish shows nutrient loads by state and nutrient impacts on Bay on slide 8 and 9
37:04 — Parrish talks about EPA’s best estimate at making allocations on slide 10
39:32 — Question about the sources of Nitrogen and Phosphorous
39:49 — Parrish describes Virginia’s estimated loads on slide 12
44:11 — Parrish talks about improvements of the Bay
46:41 — Parrish shows where dissolved oxygen problems are in VA on slide 13
46:59 — Parrish talks about lower James River on slide 14
47:41 — Question about where TMDL for the rivers will be administered
49:47 — Question about Rivanna river plans
51:32 — Question about waste water treatment plants and farmers
53:49 — Parrish talks about successes to date on slide 16
54:46 — Parrish shows current TMDL and WIP schedule on slide 17
59:34 — Conclusion
