Overview

Planting rain gardens is just one of many best management practices (BMPs) included in two-year milestones to restore the Chesapeake Bay.
 EPA and the Bay jurisdictions have adopted extensive measures to ensure accountability for reducing pollution and meeting target dates for progress under the Chesapeake Bay TMDL. Bay jurisdictions include Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia. The TMDL is being implemented using an accountability that guides restoration efforts.

As part of this accountability framework, EPA and the Bay jurisdictions agreed to develop short-term goals, called milestones, to increase restoration work and ensure progress. The two-year milestones represent key check-in points on the way to having all pollution reduction measures in place by 2025 to restore the Bay and its tidal rivers. By 2017, controls should be in place that would achieve 60 percent of the necessary pollutant reductions.

In the past, the Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP) partnership had set one overall pollution reduction goal for cleaning up the Bay a decade or more in the future. The CBP partnership found these long term goals difficult to meet and decided to identify short term goals needed to make steady progress. Two-year milestones provide greater specificity of load reductions, more rigorous assurances that load reductions will be achieved, and more transparent reporting to the public.

In January 2012, the jurisdictions submitted their first set of two-year milestones as part of the Chesapeake Bay TMDL accountability framework.  These milestones covered the 2012-2013 timeframe.  The jurisdictions will develop subsequent milestones every two years.  The jurisdictions did develop milestones in 2009 prior to the issuance of the Chesapeake Bay TMDL.

In addition, federal agencies contribute to the restoration of the Chesapeake Bay watershed through implementation of the federal strategy called for in Executive Order 13508. Federal agencies, including EPA, set two-year milestones with the specific charge of taking actions that directly support the jurisdictions in restoring water quality.

2014-2015 Milestones

On May 15, 2014, EPA received the 2014-2015 milestones from the Chesapeake Bay jurisdictions as part of the Chesapeake Bay TMDL.  Additionally, six federal agencies, including EPA, issued their own 2014-2015 milestones to support the jurisdictions in meeting their milestone goals.

Click on the links below to view the 2014-2015 milestones for the jurisdictions and federal agencies. To view EPA's evaluation of the 2014-2015 milestones, go to the EPA Oversight of Watershed Implementation Plans and Milestones page.

• View Delaware's 2015 Programmatic Milestones on the State of Delaware's Division of Watershed Stewardship websiteExit
• View the District of Columbia's 2014-2015 Two-Year Milestones - Region III and the Chesapeake Bay Program on the Department of Energy and Environment websiteExit
• View Maryland's 2014-2015 Milestone Goals on the Maryland Department of the Environment websiteExit
• View New York's 2014-2015 Programmatic Milestones on the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation's Chesapeake Bay websiteExit
• View Pennsylvania's 2014 Programmatic Milestone Status Update Report on the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Interstate Waters Office websiteExit
• View Virginia's 2014-2015 Milestones on the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality websiteExit
• View West Virginia's 2014-15 Annual Report on 2 Year Milestones on the West Virginia Chesapeake Bay Program websiteExit
• View the 2014-2015 Federal Programmatic Milestones on the Chesapeake Bay Executive Order websiteExit

2012-2013 Milestones

Click the links below to view the 2012-2013 milestones for the jurisdictions and federal agencies.  To view EPA's evaluations of the 2012-2013 milestones, go to our EPA Oversight of Watershed Implementation Plans and Milestones page.

• View Delaware's 2013 Programmatic Milestone Updates on the State of Delaware's Division of Watershed Stewardship websiteExit
• View the District of Columbia's 2012-2013 Milestones
• View Maryland's 2012-2013 Milestone Goals on the Maryland Department of the Environment websiteExit
• View New York's 2012-2013 Programmatic Milestones on the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation's Chesapeake Bay websiteExit
• View Pennsylvania's 2012-2013 Milestones
• View Virginia's 2012-2013 Programmatic Milestones on the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality websiteExit
• View West Virginia's 2012-2013 Milestones on the West Virginia Chesapeake Bay Program websiteExit
• View the 2012-2013 Federal Programmatic Milestones on the Chesapeake Bay Executive Order websiteExit

2009-2011 Milestones

Click the link below to view the 2009-2011 milestones for the jurisdictions and federal agencies.  To view EPA's evaluations of the 2009-2011 milestones, go to our EPA Oversight of Watershed Implementation Plans and Milestones page.

• 2011 Milestones for Reducing Nitrogen and Phosphorus (PDF)Exit (18 pp, 4.3 M, About PDF)

Jurisdiction Contacts

If you are seeking additional information on the jurisdiction-developed two-year milestones, please contact one of the jurisdiction staff members listed in the table below.