Total Maximum Daily Loads

A citizen's guide to the Chesapeake Bay TMDL

Residents of the Chesapeake Bay watershed depend upon a healthy Bay for food, recreation, and commercial enterprises. But the ways in which we use the watershed’s lands—from driving our cars to spreading fertilizers—impact the health of the Bay’s waters. Wastewater treatment plants, agricultural operations, and urban runoff are major sources of the nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment pollution that threaten the Bay’s health. The Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) is designed to restore the health of the Bay’s waters by reducing the pollution from these and other sources.

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