NEWSLETTER

Chesapeake Assessment Scenario Tool

CAST Newsletter: May 2023

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

Did You Know?

Did you know you can find interactive trend graphs and maps on CAST? You can view trends for loads, nutrients, animal units and septic systems for Bay jurisdictions from 1984 through 2025 on the Trends Over Time page. Follow links to each tool, containing interactive graphs and maps of CAST data customizable by location, years, and other variables!

CAST Webinars and Training

Upcoming Webinars

This month's webinar will highlight the Trends Over Time tools. With the 2025 Chesapeake Bay TMDL deadline fast approaching, we are going to demonstrate some of the ways to assess progress. We will first use the CAST Compare Planning Targets tool to assess the current state of progress. Then, we will use 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.

  • Topic: Trends Over Time
  • Time: May 18, 2023 at noon EST
  • Join Zoom Meeting
  • Meeting ID: 878 6308 9226
  • One tap mobile +13017158592,,87863089226#

Available Training Videos

In our last webinar, we highlighted the BMP Targeting Maps. We first explained how to read the BMP targeting maps and use the BMP pounds reduced and costs by county tool. Then, we walked through the steps to create a planning scenario based on the BMP targeting information, and how to find the results of the scenario. Then, we shared the CAST resources that were used to create the targeting maps.

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

Floating Wetlands Project in Baltimore, MD: Waterfront Partnership launched the Healthy Harbor Initiative, an education campaign to draw attention to the poor water quality of Baltimore’s harbor and to create a blueprint for action with the ambitious goal of making the harbor swimmable and fishable by 2020. Read more about this success story in the Building Floating Wetlands to Restore Urban Waterfronts and Community Partnerships article.

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.

The Phase 6 NEIEN Appendix has been approved and is available for download under CAST Progress Reporting.

  • Early-May 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: Two new pages are available from the CAST Home page: Monitoring and Ecosystem Benefits. The monitoring page contains a space to view maps and graphs of monitored water quality data. The Ecosystem Benefits page contains information about the complementary benefits to BMP implementation.

Updates to the Estuary Trends data is now live on CAST.

The Ecosystem Benefits Browser is now live on CAST. The Ecosystem Benefits Browser is an interactive tool which visualizes and summarizes the Goals, Outcomes, and Co-Benefits associated with CAST BMPs.

These updates do not change the loads in scenarios.

A full list of changes is available on CAST's Upgrade History. The new CAST version is Phase 6 - 7.6.0.

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