DEQ Chesapeake Bay Activities 

DEQ is engaged in many activities to protect and restore the Chesapeake Bay, the largest estuary in the U.S. The Bay's 64,000 square-mile watershed extends into six adjoining states: Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, Delaware, Pennsylvania and New York, plus Washington, D.C. DEQ's efforts fall into three primary areas: participation in the Chesapeake Bay Program, implementing monitoring activities and regulating activities under the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act.

Over the past four decades, significant energy and resources have been spent to restore the water quality and living resources of the Bay. Virginia's efforts are guided by the Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load, Virginia’s Phase III Watershed Implementation Plan and two-year milestones.

Supporting these initiatives are numerous DEQ programs and the agency's Chesapeake Bay office, which works with other state agencies, local governments and citizens to advance the goals of WIP III and the most recent Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement signed by the Chesapeake Bay Program partnership in 2014. 

DEQ is also engaged in extensive and long-standing water quality and biological monitoring of the Bay and its major tributaries. The objectives of these programs are the characterization of current conditions, identification of long-term trends and better understanding of processes that control water quality.

Including measurements of both chemical and biological parameters is an important step towards determining the relationship between water quality and biological resources. The results of these monitoring programs will help measure the success of management actions toward the protection and restoration of the Bay. Result reports of the monitoring program are available here.

In addition, the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act (CBPA) and accompanying regulations provide a framework for local government planning and development criteria to help address water quality and run-off into the Bay. Localities are required to implement the CBPA through ordinance provisions, comprehensive planning elements, site development criteria and site plan reviews. DEQ works with the 84 localities subject to the CBPA by providing technical assistance, guidance and program compliance reviews.