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Pick Five to Help Water Quality... more 

• Plant trees and other native vegetation to promote water infiltration.  Trees also provide natural cooling in the summertime to help minimize energy use.  If your property borders a stream, plant trees along its banks.  Trees help to stabilize the banks and filter excess nutrients from the water.
  
• Fertilize your lawn only when needed to establish vegetation or when called for by a soil test.  Many lawns may not need to be fertilized at all, especially with phosphorous.  When fertilizer is applied, use a spreader that has been recently calibrated and apply at the minimum recommended area at the proper time.
  
• Reduce energy consumption because power plants are a significant contributor of nitrogen to the atmosphere in the form of NOx.  NOx is then deposited on land by rainfall and is a source of excessive nitrogen in our local water ways and the Bay.
  
• Reduce fuel consumption -  cars are also a significant source of atmospheric nitrogen.
  
• Do not connect sump pumps, cellar drains or roof drains to the sanitary sewer system. Disconnect them if they are already connected.  Modern sanitary sewers are designed to handle sewage only, not stormwater. Stormwater can overwhelm a sanitary sewer system, straining treatment plant capacity and potentially causing sewer overflows.
  
• Minimize use of the garbage disposal, and utilize a backyard composter instead. It reduces the burden on sewer systems and the compost is a good source of fertilizer for gardens.
  
• Compost grass clippings and autumn leaves.  They are a natural source of fertilizer and organic matter for your lawn and the trees from which they came.
  
• Minimize stormwater runoff from your property - utilize rain barrels, rain gardens and pervious surfaces to promote infiltration of stormwater, thereby filtering excessive nutrients instead of directly depositing them into storm drains and waterways.
  
• Maintain your septic system - overburdened or malfunctioning  septic systems are a source of nitrogen to groundwater and local surface water.

On December 29, 2010, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)  issued the final Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) for the Chesapeake Bay.  The TMDL identifies the necessary pollution reductions of nitrogen, phosphorus and sediments necessary to restore life to our local waterways and the Chesapeake Bay. The TMDL is designed to ensure that all pollution control measures needed to fully restore the Bay are in place by 2025, with at least 60% of the actions being completed by 2017.  That is only 6 years away.

Because Pennsylvania revised its draft Watershed Implementation Plan to include a significantly increased commitment to enforcement and compliance with state requirements for agriculture and funding to develop and implement state-of-the art technologies for converting
animal manure to energy for farms, EPA has reduced or removed mostfederal backstops, for now, which would have concentrated mostly onwastewater treatment plants, municipal stormwater systems and large
animal agricultural operations in the Watershed.

EPA will now shift its focus to Pennsylvania, and the other Chesapeake Bay watershed states, to monitor the implementation of the state's Nov. 29, 2010, Watershed Implementation Plan's policies and programs that will reduce pollution on the ground and in the water.  There will be two year milestones established and monitored.  If progress is insufficient, EPA has said it will take appropriate contingency actions including targeted compliance and enforcement activities, expansion of requirements to obtain NPDES permit coverage for currently unregulated sources, revision of the TMDL allocations and additional controls on federally permitted sources of pollution, such as wastewater treatment plants, large animal agriculture operations and municipal stormwater systems.

In 2011, Pennsylvania will continue to implement the state Watershed Implementation Plan as well as develop Phase II of the Watershed Implementation Plan. designed to engage local governments, watershed organizations, conservation districts, citizens and other key stakeholders in reducing water pollution.