Setting Goals to Prevent & Reduce Toxics to the Chesapeake Bay: A Working Session for Industrial, Federal & Wastewater Treatment Plant Facilities. Proceedings. A Supporting Document for the 1999 Toxics Reevaluation & Revision

摘要

In 1994, the Executive Council of the Chesapeake Bay Program adopted the Chesapeake Bay Basinwide Toxics Reduction and Prevention Strategy. The goal of the strategy is 'a Chesapeake Bay free of toxics by reducing or eliminating the input of chemical contaminants from all controllable sources to levels that result in no toxic or bioaccumulative impact on the living resources that inhabit the Bay or on human health.' Since 1994, the Bay Program has made progress toward achieving this goal, however, challenges remain. The Chesapeake Bay Program is currently reviewing and revising the 1994 Chesapeake Bay Basinwide Toxics Reduction and Prevention Strategy and, through a series of Critical Issue Forums and roundtables with stakeholders, developing directions and actions to take on chemical contaminant-related issues in the year 2000 and beyond. Additionally, the Bay Program is developing a new Chesapeake Bay Agreement for the year 2000 and beyond. As specified in the 1994 strategy, pollution prevention by industrial and government point sources plays a key role in helping the Chesapeake Bay Program achieve its goal of a 'Bay free of toxics'. The Bay Program is committed to working in partnership with industry, government and environmental groups to achieve a series of pollution prevention-related commitments. Leading up these voluntary initiatives is the Bay Program's Toxics Subcommittee and it Pollution Prevention Workgroup. The Subcommittee is responsible for providing an overall direction on how to achieve the goal of a 'Bay free of toxics', while the Pollution Prevention Workgroup, whose membership consists of representatives from industry and federal, state, and local governments, helps to define specific pollution prevention activities that should be taken to achieve the goal.