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Congress adopts Rivers and Harbors Act to protect navigation and prohibit discharge that would interfere with rivers as transportation.
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After a half-century of debate, Congress adopts the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, which gives no regulatory authority to the federal government and acts mainly to encourage water pollution control by the states. For further reading click here
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Congress amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to provide states and localities with grants totaling $500 million for construction of wastewater treatment plants.
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Congress amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to broaden the federal government’s enforcement powers and increase federal support of state and interstate pollution control. The act expands the jurisdiction of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare.
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The Water Quality Act is adopted by Congress.
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The Chesapeake Bay Foundation is formed.
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The region's forest cover declines due to population growth and development. An increase in polluted runoff and damage from Hurricane Agnes destroy underwater grass beds in the Chesapeake Bay.
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Congress amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act and passes what is commonly known as the Clean Water Act. In the CWA the terms “navigable waters” and “waters of the United States” become the subject of much judicial debate.
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The District Court for the District of Columbia finds in Natural Resources Defense Council v. Calloway that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has interpreted its jurisdiction too narrowly in regulations issued the previous year. Responding to a court order to rewrite the regulations, the Corps issues new guidelines claiming jurisdiction over navigable waters, their tributaries and wetlands.
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Restoration partnerships like the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay and the Susquehanna River Basin Commission form.
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The Chesapeake Bay Commission, a tri-state legislative body that represents Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania, is established to coordinate policy across state lines. The Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay begins a first-of-its-kind program that teaches citizen volunteers how to monitor water quality.
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In Avoyelles Sportsmen League., et al. v. John O. Marsh, Jr., Secretary of the Army, the U.S. Appeals court for the Fifth Circuit interprets the government’s jurisdiction much more broadly than the Corps has. It declares that land-clearing on wetlands is subject to federal regulation and requires a permit under section 404 of the Clean Water Act.
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In a unanimous decision in United States v. Riverside Bayview Homes, Inc., the Supreme Court further expands the federal government’s jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act. The justices rule that the Corps has jurisdiction over wetlands next to a navigable body of water of the United States even if the property is not inundated or frequently flooded by the adjacent waterway.
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The Corps issues a guidance manual for defining wetlands that fall under the jurisdiction of the Clean Water Act. The manual says they must meet three criteria. The water must be at or near the surface of the land for some period of time, vegetation that thrives in wet conditions must be present, and the soil must be periodically saturated.
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The National Wildlife Federation and its North Carolina Chapter sue the Corps, the EPA and two developers alleging that hundreds of acres of wetlands have been destroyed to make way for Wilmington’s first gated community and another development.
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The agencies sign off on the Tulloch rule, which redefines the discharge of dredged material to include a “redeposit of dredged material … incidental to any activity, including mechanized land clearing, ditching, channelization, or other excavation.” For further reading click here
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Blue Plains Wastewater Treatment Plant begins to use nutrient removal technology to lower the amount of nitrogen it sends into the Potomac River and improve water quality.
Federal, state and private partners agree to restore Poplar Island using sand and sediment dredged up from the bottom of the Chesapeake Bay. -
The Virginia Water Quality Improvement Act establishes a state fund that will support the prevention, reduction and control of nutrient pollution.
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The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia sides with plaintiffs American Mining Congress and rejects the Tulloch rule.
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Maryland records its lowest blue crab harvest: 20.2 million pounds. Chesapeake 2000 is signed, establishing more than 100 goals to reduce pollution and restore habitats, protect living resources and promote sound land use, and engage the public in restoration.
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The agencies issue a proposal for what is known as the Tulloch II Rule.
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EPA announces plans to adopt the Tulloch II Rule.
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More than 2,800 miles of forest buffers have been restored in the watershed, meeting the Bay Program’s goal for forest buffer restoration eight years ahead of schedule.
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Maryland, Virginia and the Potomac River Fisheries Commission issue emergency regulations on the harvest of blue crabs to help the species recover. The Chesapeake Bay’s blue crab fishery is declared a federal disaster.
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President Obama signs an executive order that calls on the federal government to renew the effort to protect and restore the watershed.
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Maryland, Virginia and New York ban phosphates in dishwasher detergent to lower phosphorous pollution in local waterways. After a steady increase was observed.
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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issues a new Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Permit to the District of Columbia. It is the first of its kind to incorporate green infrastructure into its requirements, setting a national model for stormwater management.
