Chesapeake Assessment Scenario Tool

CAST Newsletter: September 2023

Tips and information to facilitate environmental restoration efforts in the Chesapeake Bay watershed

Did You Know?

Did you know you can compare the Chesapeake Bay TMDL Planning Targets to official scenarios using the Compare Planning Targets tool? Use this feature to track progress toward the 2025 goal against the annual progress or other official scenarios. Targets are by state basin scale and are provided by the Chesapeake Bay Program at no smaller scales and without specificity to source sector to allow the major jurisdictions maximum flexibility in developing implementation plans. This tools allows you to view the data in table and graph format, with the option to download as an excel file.

CAST Webinars and Training

Upcoming Webinars

This month's webinar will highlight Invalid BMPs. We will first go over how to upload BMPs to CAST using a BMP Input File. Then, we will show where to find upload errors, and how to read an error report. Finally, we will walk through some examples of how to fix these errors using the error report and input file, or through the CAST site.

• Topic: Invalid BMPs
• Time: September 21, 2023 at noon EST
• Join Zoom Meeting
• Meeting ID: 862 3032 6881
• One tap mobile +13052241968,,86230326881#

Available Training Videos

In our last webinar, we highlighted the Trends Over Time tools. With the Chesapeake Bay TMDL deadline fast approaching, we demonstrated some of the ways to assess progress. We first used the CAST Compare Planning Targets tool to assess the current state of progress. Then, we used the Trends Over Time graphs and maps to answer questions about factors influencing the state of the Bay and its progress toward those target loads.

This and other past training videos, on topics ranging from buffers to targeting nutrient reductions, are available in the Learning section of CAST under 'Free Training Videos'. Amongst the variety of training content available, there are also short videos on topics like 'Where do I start,' under CAST 101 - Getting Started.

Chesapeake Bay Watershed Success Story

Virginia lawmakers come through with increased cleanup money for Chesapeake Bay: Virginia has pledged to spend hundres of millions of dollars this year to reduce pollution affecting the Chesapeake Bay under a long-delayed budget deal approved recently. Read more about this success story on the Bay Journal website.

Does your organization have a Chesapeake Bay Watershed success story you'd like to share? If you have a story you would like to see in the next CAST Newsletter, submit an article using the 'Contact Us' feature from any page of the CAST website.

Chesapeake Bay Program Deadlines

2022 Progress toward the Bay TMDL

The Chesapeake Bay Deadlines refer to the major jurisdictions' annual reporting of new BMPs implemented, and existing BMPs verified as functioning in the watershed. BMP implementation information is used to create annual progress scenarios using CAST and to make assessments and report out the estimated impacts of restoration efforts.

• September 14, 2023: 2022 Progress finalized and released on CAST. Progress may be delayed due to unresolved issues surrounding the verification assessments.

Updates to CAST

New features: Access to a draft version of CAST-23 made available to members of the WQGIT, WTWG, and other interested parties for review.

Updates to CAST-23 will change the loads in all scenarios and years. This includes your own scenarios, scenarios shared with you, and public scenarios. Public scenarios and the shared scenarios owned by CBP Admin are recalculated for you.

Updates that were made to the aborted version CAST-21 (11/1/2021) are included in the CAST-23 version as well as changes to the inorganic fertilizer data, which is updated through 2020, and the urban fertilizer application method.

A full list of changes is available on CAST's Upgrade History. The new CAST version is Phase 6 - 7.8.0.

Click here if you are having trouble viewing this message.