69 
is identifying additional resources to expand the monitoring needed to meet the 2010 
deadline. The third option is assessing segments for fewer than three years if 
noncompliance of the segment is established. All three options are addressed below. 
Accurately assessing how many segments can be assessed by each action remains 
impossible however, since determining the availability of additional resources or 
establishing how many segments might need fewer than three years of monitoring if 
noncompliance is established cannot be predicted. 
EXTENDING THE TIMEFRAME 
The Chesapeake Bay Program partners have not approved extending the shallow- 
water clarity criteria assessment timeframe beyond 2010. The current deadline will 
not be met due to a lack of adequate resources to implement the shallow-water moni¬ 
toring program design agreed upon by the Chesapeake Bay Program and the 
participating states and thoroughly reviewed by the Chesapeake Bay Program Scien¬ 
tific Technical Advisory Committee (STAC 2005). Significant progress has been 
made to accelerate the assessment schedule. Although intensive shallow-water moni¬ 
toring water clarity monitoring data will not be available in all segments, attainment 
of the shallow-water bay grass designated use for those segments that contain an 
SAV restoration acreage would be assessed by comparing each segment’s single-best 
SAV acreage from the most recent three-year period with the jurisdiction’s adopted 
segment-specific SAV restoration acreage (see Chapters 5 and 8 for further details). 
In this way, each shallow-water designated-use segment could have some assessment 
completed each year. 
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES 
Maryland, Virginia, and the EPA are actively seeking additional resources to expand 
shallow-water monitoring in order to accelerate the schedule for completing baywide 
assessments. In 2003, when Maryland and Virginia implemented shallow-water 
monitoring in 1 1 Maryland segments and seven Virginia segments, it was estimated 
that it would take until 2018 to assess all 78 Chesapeake Bay Program segments over 
a three-year period on a rotating basis. Since the Shallow-water Monitoring 
Program’s initial implementation, both Maryland and Virginia have developed part¬ 
nerships with county governments (e.g., Anne Arundel and Harford counties in 
Maryland), municipal agencies (e.g., Hampton Roads Sanitation District in 
Virginia), and federal agencies (e.g., NOAA’s National Estuarine Research System) 
and secured additional state funding to accelerate monitoring of all segments. Based 
on these new partnerships, current expanded resources, and segment assessment over 
a three-year period, it is estimated that Maryland will complete all its shallow-water 
assessments by the year 2014 and Virginia will complete all its shallow-water assess¬ 
ments by 2015. Figures VII-4 and VII-5 depict the current tentative schedule for 
shallow-water monitoring and assessment of Maryland and Virginia segments, 
respectively. New sources of funding continue to materialize and the schedules indi¬ 
cated by Figures VII-4 and VII-5 will change in response to funding adjustments. 
chapter vii 
Shallow-water Monitoring and Application for Criteria Assessment 
