A Brief Description of Maryland’s WRAS Program
as it Relates to Maryland’s Tributary Strategies,
and other Maryland Water Quality Programs

Maintaining water quality in Maryland is a challenge and Maryland approaches this challenge from several angles. In addition to the voluntary Watershed Restoration Action Strategy (WRAS) Program, Maryland has several other programs that also address water quality. Some of the significant programs, like the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) Program, and the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Program, both at the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE), are regulatory. Other voluntary programs for facilitating water quality and habitat improvements at the state and local levels include the Source Water Protection Program, MDE, and the Tributary Strategy Program at the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

Tributary Strategies and WRAS
The most frequently asked question is how do the Tributary Strategies and the WRASs relate to each other. The Tributary Strategy Program (circa 1995) and the Watershed Restoration Action Strategy Program (circa 2000) are two programs at DNR that address water quality and habitat with distinctive and complementary approaches. WRASs and Tributary Strategies together will result in measurable improvements in both local and Chesapeake Bay waters.

In general, the Tributary Strategies define the load reductions needed to meet nutrient and sediment goals for the Chesapeake Bay and then allocates the reductions to the state’s ten tributary basins. For each of the ten tributary basins, a listing of best management practices is provided to guide the state in the effort to reach the allocated load. Refining this tributary basin information down to a smaller watershed scale will be essential to the future implementation of the strategies at the local, WRAS-scale level.

In general, WRASs work at a much smaller, more detailed scale than the Tributary Strategies. For example, about 13 WRAS-sized watersheds are nested within one Tributary Strategy-sized watershed. (For a discussion on watershed scale, click on "Frequently Asked Questions," on the WRAS Home Page). The WRASs identify site-specific actions that, if implemented, would measurably improve the water quality of a given stream.

It is helpful to think of a WRAS as one of the "implementation" arms for the Tributary Strategies, working on the ground and at the scale where local management decisions are made. While WRAS management objectives are designed for local habitat and waters, these local improvements will have collateral benefits down stream in the Chesapeake Bay. For those who want a detailed breakdown of the Tributary Strategy and WRAS programs, the table below distinguishes the similarities and differences of each. For more information about the Tributary Strategies, see: http://dnr.maryland.gov/bay/tribstrat/ 

Source Water Protection Program (MDE) and WRAS
MDE’s Source Water Protection Program, stemming from the Safe Drinking Water Act of 1996, works with local governments to assess risks to drinking water sources and to develop plans with recommendations for the protection of those drinking water sources. In 2003, 71% of Maryland residents obtained drinking water from vulnerable community water systems that benefited from locally based source water protection programs. In 2003, 2.6 million Marylanders were served by community water systems that relied on surface water sources with watershed protection programs and 140,000 Marylanders were served by community water systems that relied on vulnerable groundwater sources with active wellhead protection efforts. MDE works with local governments to find funding to implement the recommendations of the plans.

MDE’s Water Supply Program has an EPA approved Source Water Assessment Plan. The plan describes how Maryland will delineate source water assessment areas, identify potential contaminant sources and conduct a susceptibility analysis for all sources used by public water systems in Maryland. The assessments serve as the basis for protection programs by identifying the most critical risks to the water suppliers and making the results available to the public through consumer confidence reports and to the agencies and jurisdictions that can address the identified risks.

Source Water Protection and WRAS have overlapping water quality goals and work at similar scales in some instances. Although the WRAS Program also supports water quality goals, it supports habitat protection and restoration goals as well. WRAS participants would enhance their watershed plans if they would collaborate with both local and state drinking water suppliers to include and address their concerns in the watershed strategy. Likewise, the collaboration would enable WRAS stakeholders, including citizen participants, to become aware of source water protection issues. For more information about the Source Water Protection Program, see: http://www.mde.state.md.us/Programs/WaterPrograms/Water_Supply/index.asp.

Total Maximum Daily Loads (MDE) and WRAS
MDE manages the State’s Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) Program. TMDLs are a requirement of the federal Clean Water Act, §303(d) and became law in 1972. A TMDL establishes the maximum amount of an impairing substance (pollutant) or stressor that a water body can assimilate and still meet specified water quality standards and allocates that load among pollution contributors. TMDLs are a tool for implementing state water quality standards. They are based on the relationship between pollution sources and in-stream water quality conditions. The TMDL Program uses simulation models, statistical analysis approaches, and monitoring to derive loads. Each TMDL addresses a specific pollutant, thus a water body could have multiple TMDLs for several pollutants. Water bodies require TMDLs when pollution controls are not stringent enough to meet applicable water quality standards. Although TMDLs may be established at geographic scales ranging from the entire Chesapeake Bay to small lakes, most of Maryland’s TMDLs have been established at the same scale as the WRASs. WRASs can provide one mechanism to help address TMDLs by identifying actions that can be taken by the pollutant-loading contributor. For more information about the TMDL Program see: http://www.mde.state.md.us/Programs/WaterPrograms/TMDL/index.asp#back.

Stormwater Programs (MDE) and WRAS
Urban development has a profound influence on the quality of Maryland’s waters. To start, development dramatically alters the local hydrologic cycle. The hydrology of a site changes during the initial clearing and grading that occur during construction. Trees, meadow grasses, and agricultural crops that intercept and absorb rainfall are removed and natural depressions that temporarily pond water are graded to a uniform slope. Cleared and graded sites erode, are often severely compacted, and prevent rainfall from being absorbed into the earth.

Along with the rest of the country, Maryland has developed a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Stormwater Permits Program to address the multiple water quantity and quality impacts caused by impervious surfaces. Phase I requirements (<250,000 and >100,000 jurisdictions), requires controls for stormwater discharges associated with 11 categories of industrial and for municipal separate storm sewer systems serving populations of 100,000 or greater, (10 jurisdictions and SHA). Ten jurisdictions and the State Highway Administration (SHA) currently are covered under individual municipal NPDES stormwater permits. Phase II requirements affected 60 small municipalities who are covered under a general permit that includes the required to implementation of six control measures: public education and outreach, public participation and involvement, illicit discharge detection and elimination, construction site runoff control, post-construction runoff control, and pollution prevention/good housekeeping. All municipal facilities must have pollution prevention plans. They may rely on other "qualifying local programs," i.e., erosion and sediment control plans and stormwater management programs.

NPDES stormwater control plans permits share some of the WRAS criteria including certain conditions such as an assessment of natural resources water quality, watershed assessment and restoration targets, physical, biological and chemical analysis of stream systems, and load reduction estimates, etc. A WRAS can assist in meeting these conditions. In addition, Phase II plans call for the identification of responsible personnel for permit compliance, adequate authority certification, discharge characterization, management programs, and fiscal analysis to comply with the permit, and Chesapeake Bay Program and Agreement participation.

For more information about NPDES stormwater permits and in Maryland stormwater management program, see: http://www.mde.state.md.us/Programs/WaterPrograms/SedimentandStormwater/index.asp. 

Educational information on nonpoint source pollution control stormwater management can also be found at: http://dnr.maryland.gov/bay/tribstrat/nps_pollution.html. 

 

Maryland’s WRAS Program and Tributary Strategy Program
both help address water quality and habitat with
distinctive and complementary approaches.

	Watershed Restoration Action Strategies (WRAS)	Tributary Strategies Program
Description of Program	A competitive grants award program, the WRAS Program delivers DNR’s technical services, coordinator assistance, and financial assistance for watershed protection and restoration planning, in an organized and systematic process.	A voluntary participation program, the Tributary Strategies Program provides a framework for state agency and citizen collaboration efforts to take place in order to define, track, and allocate reductions in the state’s nutrient and sediment pollution. The Program is carried out within the larger context of the Chesapeake Bay Program’s land based and water quality modeling efforts.
Vision	Healthy, clean waters and abundant habitat for living resources.	Healthy, clean waters and a 40% reduction in nutrient pollution by 2010.
Purpose and Objective of Program	To provide local governments with technical and planning assistance to develop comprehensive, natural resource management-based watershed plans at the 8-digit watershed level.  Completed plans include: An assessment of all natural resources, A suite of natural resource management objectives that are prioritized and quantitative, monitoring components to measure results, and public participation in the planning and implementation phases.	Three fold: To coordinate the state’s effort to reduce nutrient and sediment pollution through state regulatory and voluntary efforts. To utilize CBP models to calculate, on the Tributary Basin scale, nutrient loads (and nutrient load reductions) from agriculture, urban, forest, and mixed-use land areas. Includes an extensive and well-supported public participation component, the Tributary Teams, made up of over 350 stakeholders who are involved in the effort to reduce nutrient and sediment pollution. Stakeholders focus primarily on education and outreach efforts, policy issues, or issue related forums.
Scale	Scale: The WRAS Program works at the 8-digit watershed level. There are 127 eight-digit watersheds of this scale in the state of Maryland.	Scale: The CBP Tributary Strategy Basin scale. There are 10 watersheds of this scale in the state of Maryland. (Approximately 13 WRAS watersheds “fit” into one Tributary Strategy Basin scale.)
Method of Program Approach	Approach: Each year the WRAS Program begins five new WRAS partnership efforts. Each partnership lasts two years.	Approach: Work is on-going with all ten basins, and all state agencies simultaneously.
Timeframe	Timeframe: The WRAS Program has a goal of completing 50 watershed plans (a.k.a. WRASs) by 2010.	Timeframe: The Tributary Strategy Program will establish newly developed state-wide, tributary basin scaled, nutrient goals during 2004 (supposed to be 2002).  The Program plans to continue to support and encourage Tributary Team involvement in order to encourage stakeholders to help meet the nutrient goals.
Funding Stream	319(h); NOAA	Chesapeake Bay Implementation Grant
Primary Services Rendered	Program Manager provides RFP release and selection of proposals, provides forums for program assessment and correction, coordination with local government process, and coordinates service delivery. Three staff facilitate the production of DNR technical services for each watershed plan which includes: A comprehensive natural resource assessment, based on extensive DNR data bases and other available documentation, A 100-mile, on the ground, stream corridor assessment, A survey including water quality parameter measurements and monitoring, biotic assessments, and habitat assessments. Local governments are also provided with $40,000 in discretionary funding and a part time coordinator to assist in watershed planning.	Program Director manages agency wide collaboration effort and works as the liaison to the Bay Program and the Chesapeake Bay Cabinet.  Four key staff support the ten Tributary Strategy Teams. One administrative position provides overall staff support.
Primary Collaborators	Local Governments and municipalities, National Park Service, Environmental Finance Center, all units within DNR.	Chesapeake Bay Program (Virginia, Pennsylvania, Washington D.C.), Chesapeake Bay Cabinet, Governor’s Chesapeake Bay Workgroup, Chesapeake Bay Program Workgroups, Local Maryland Governments and Municipalities, MDP, MDE, SHA, MDOT, and MDA.  Stakeholders participating on Tributary Strategy Teams are also key collaborators.
Beneficiaries of the Coordination Effort	Chief beneficiaries of the WRAS Program are: local and municipal governments, the environment, and ultimately all Marylanders.  Having a WRAS Plan positions local governments for future federal watershed plan implementation funding.  Funding streams that require some or all of the WRAS plan components (see Purpose and Objectives), include:  EPA 319 (3 million),  EPA Watershed Initiative Funding (21 million);  NOAA Coastal Zone Funding (x million),  State Highway TEA Funding (x million) CBP Small Watershed Grants	Chief beneficiaries of the Tributary Strategy Program are:  local and municipal governments, the environment,  state agencies,  team participants, and  ultimately all Marylanders who will benefit from improved water quality.
Key Advantage of Program	Enables local governments to develop watershed and natural resource based management and policy plans. Engages local governments, municipal governments, and other stakeholders. Watershed Plans target specific sites to be restored or protected. Can address policy issues at the local level. Positions local governments to apply for project implementation funding.	Enables state to assess and prioritize resources to achieve nutrient reductions through regulatory and voluntary programs. Engages local governments, municipal governments, and other stakeholders on ten Tributary Teams; a comprehensive, public involvement effort. Addresses nutrient pollution from a cumulative perspective; cannot address site-specific issues. Provides overview of policy and approaches that may be addressed at the state level. Local governments have signed the Local Government Partnership Agreement committing themselves to participate in the Tributary Strategy Program through the Tributary Strategy Teams.
Key Events during the Year	Release of RFP RFP Workshop Delivery of DNR Services Local Government meetings Development of Watershed Plans Local government Financing Workshops Local Government/WRAS Roundtable Watershed planning workshops	Monthly meetings with ten “Tributary Teams” Annual Meeting Development of new Tributary Strategies (every 5 to 8 years) Tributary Teams meet with the Governor of Maryland Tributary Teams meet with the Governor’s Chesapeake Bay Cabinet Issue specific workshops
How this Program Relates to C2K Goals	…work with local governments, etc. to develop and implement locally supported watershed management plans …address protection, conservation and restoration of stream corridors, riparian forest buffers and wetlands for the purposes of improving habitat and water quality	…achieve and maintain the 40 percent nutrient reduction goal …correct the nutrient and sediment related problem in the Bay and its tidal tributaries …determine the sediment load reductions necessary to achieve the water quality condition that protects aquatic living resources …complete a public process to develop and begin implementation of revised Tributary Strategies

 

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Last Updated on April 16, 2004