Delaware achieved its 2013 goals for four of the seven pollution-reduction practices evaluated, including cover crops and urban tree planting. However, it failed to meet goals for animal waste management, grass buffers, and septic connections. While progress has been made through funding, partnerships, and regulations, Delaware will need to accelerate efforts like wetland restoration and increase funding through initiatives like the Governor's clean water plan to achieve its long-term pollution reduction goals by 2025.

1. Delaware’s Plan for Clean Water: Is the State on Track?
Residents in the region are starting to see the benefits of investments and improvements made in
local waterways and the Chesapeake Bay. The practices that protect and restore our waterways—tree
plantings, conservation planning, septic hookups, and upgrades to wastewater treatment plants—
ultimately improve our quality of life by reducing flooding, securing healthier drinking water, beau-
tifying our neighborhoods, and ensuring safer waters for recreation. Unfortunately, despite making
progress, the Chesapeake Bay watershed still remains a system dangerously out of balance. Too much
nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment pollution continues to run off our lawns, city streets, and farm
fields into local creeks and streams and the Bay.
In 2010, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Bay jurisdictions established science-
based limits for these pollutants and state-specific plans to achieve them, together known as the
Chesapeake Clean Water Blueprint. EPA, the states, and Washington, D.C., also committed to implement
actions to achieve 60 percent of the needed reductions by 2017 and 100 percent by 2025.
To ensure these clean-water efforts stay on track, each of the states and Washington, D.C., committed
to two-year goals or milestones detailing the programs and practices intended to be met in the near-
term to achieve the 2017 and 2025 long-term goals. The milestones are a critical accountability tool,
providing the opportunity to measure progress in the context of long-term Bay restoration efforts. Be-
cause of the importance of the milestones, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and the Choose Clean
Water Coalition are collaborating to evaluate and publicize pollution-reduction progress. This report
evaluates, for select practices, whether Delaware achieved its 2012/2013 two-year milestone goals and
whether or not this progress is on a trajectory to achieve 60 percent implementation by 2017 and full
implementation by 2025.
Conclusion
Delaware achieved its 2013 goals for four of the seven practices evaluated. These successes were due to
strategic funding, partnerships with non-government organizations, and outreach activities. Implement-
ing newly accepted statewide septic and polluted-runoff regulations and collecting critical data related
to agricultural practices will lead to future progress. But there is room for improvement. In 2014, Gov-
ernor Markell announced his Clean Water for Delaware’s Future Initiative which, if approved, will provide
the necessary funding needed to implement additional conservation and infrastructure practices and
upgrades. It is now up to the legislature to pass his proposal.
June 2014
AT A GLANCE
Agriculture
Animal Waste
Management
Grass Buffers
Wetland Restoration
Cover Crops
Urban/Suburban
Bioretention
Urban tree planting
Wastewater/Septic
Septic System
Connection
See the charts on the inside of
this sheet for more information.
For more detailed information
on all of Delaware’s milestone
goals, go to: www.epa.gov/
reg3wapd/tmdl/Chesapeake
Bay/EnsuringResults.html.
2012/2013 FINAL ASSESSMENT
Delaware
Milestones
6 Herndon Avenue | Annapolis, Maryland 21403
888/SAVEBAY | cbf.org
How this Report was Compiled
We selected a subset of implemented practices within three
pollution source categories—agricultural runoff, urban/subur-
ban sources, and wastewater treatment—based on their po-
tential to provide substantial nitrogen, phosphorus, and
sediment pollution reductions and offer important lessons for
implementation moving forward. For each practice, progress
(% achievement) was evaluated by looking at incremental
progress between the base year, 2011, and 2013, compared
to the 2013 milestone goal. Progress during this milestone pe-
riod was also compared to the long-term (2017 and 2025)
implementation benchmarks that the states and Washington,
D.C., committed to in their Watershed Implementation Plans.
Data were provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency’s Chesapeake Bay Program Office.
706 Giddings Avenue 1-B | Annapolis, Maryland 21401
443/759-3400 | choosecleanwater.org
Pollution Reduction in Delaware at a Glance
Delaware’s pollution-reduction efforts have led to mixed
success: It exceeded its wastewater goal but failed to meet its
overall 2013 nitrogen and phosphorus pollution-reduction
goals. To meet long term goals, Delaware will need to increase
its focus and funding on reducing polluted runoff and imple-
menting additional agricultural conservation practices.
Success Story
Partnerships between private and public entities are key to having
clean, healthy water in the Chesapeake Bay region. Rain gardens were
installed in four Seaford elementary schools in the Nanticoke water-
shed thanks to a partnership between National Wildlife Federation
and Delaware Nature Society and with funding support from EPA’s
Chesapeake Bay Implementation grants, the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration, and Delaware’s Department of Natural
Resources and Environmental Control.
In addition to treating polluted runoff from school property, the
project provides an outdoor classroom for 1,870 students and teach-
ers as well as the larger Seaford community. The relationships built
between the state and non-government organizations has provided
a foundation for engaging the public in local water-quality issues.
Future plans include similar partnerships to provide opportunities
for the public to interact with their local waterways, including
kayaking, cleanups by boat, races along waterside trails, and
finding out what concerns residents have about their local waterway.
These projects will empower people through education and inter-
action to take action to protect their local waterways and provide
them opportunities to do so.
0
1
4
2025201720132011
2025
GOAL
WASTEWATER/SEPTIC
AGRICULTURE
POLLUTED RUNOFF
3
2
2017
GOAL
Modeled Nitrogen Loads and Long Term Goals in Delaware
by Sector (millions of pounds)
Source: Chesapeake Bay Program Watershed Model 5.3.2
0
50
100
300
350
2025201720132011
2025
GOAL
WASTEWATER
AGRICULTURE
POLLUTED RUNOFF
250
200
150
2017
GOAL
Modeled Phosphorus Loads and Long Term Goals in Delaware
by Sector (thousands of pounds)
*Pollution reduction is ahead of schedule for this sector.
*
*

2. Assessment of Delaware’s Progress on Selected Pollution-Reduction Practices for 2013
Animal Waste Management System animal units
This practice is one of the most effective at reducing pollution and
Delaware has ramped up implementation in the last couple of years.
However, it missed its 2013 milestone goal. Acheiving Delaware’s
long-term pollution reduction goals will require increased effort and better
data verification to ensure all implementation counts towards meeting goals.
0
20,000
40,000
80,000
2011 2015 2019 2021 2023
0
60,000
2013 2017 2025
G
2013 PROGRESS = 104 ACRES
2013 MILESTONE = 99 ACRES
Progress Relative to Long-Term Goals (animal units)
Grass Buffers acres
Like many states, Delaware needs additional funding resources and
outreach efforts to incentivize the installation of grass buffers.If passed,
the Governor's Clean Water for Delaware’s Future Initiative will provide
additional financial resources.
0
2,000
4,000
10,000
2011 2015 2019 2021 2023
0
8,000
2013 2017 2025
G
6,000
31 (2-YEAR INCREMENTAL PROGRESS)
916 (2-YEAR INCREMENTAL MILESTONE)
= 3%
Progress Relative to Long-Term Goals (acres)
Wetland Restoration acres
Delaware partnered with the U.S.Fish andWildlife Service and Ducks Un-
limited to ensure that Nanticoke Restoration Plan projects are designed
to improve water quality and wildlife habitat.They also want to maximize
resources with partners active in the watershed. Looking forward, Delaware will
need to accelerate wetland protection to meet 2017 and 2025 goals.
0
1,000
2,000
6,000
2011 2015 2019 2021 2023
0
4,000
2013 2017 2025
3,000
5,000
2,109 (2-YEAR INCREMENTAL PROGRESS)
557 (2-YEAR INCREMENTAL MILESTONE)
= 379%
Progress Relative to Long-Term Goals (acres)
Cover Crops acres
Delaware exceeded its 2013 milestone goal, which was set below
2011 implementation, albeit above 2010 implementation. Improve-
ments in tracking implementation by state, federal, and local partners
help explain this apparent disconnect. Delaware is on track to meet its long
term goals if it maintains progress in cover crops.
0
20,000
100,000
2011 2015 2019 2021 2023
0
2013 2017
G
2025
G
40,000
80,000
60,000
49,786 (2013 PROGRESS)
36,809 (2013 MILESTONE)
= 135%*
Progress Relative to Long-Term Goals (acres)
Urban Tree Planting acres
Funds provided by the U.S. Forest Service, Delaware and the Non-
Point Source (319) Program were used to create the “Trees for the
Bay” Program that offers residents a $100 tree coupon with a rain
barrel purchase. Delaware’s 2013 milestone goal was equal to 2011 imple-
mentation, but this successful federal-state partnership demonstrates that
it could set more aggressive targets.
0
40
60
120
2011 2015 2019 2021 2023
100
2013 2017
G
2025
G
20
80
Progress Relative to Long-Term Goals (acres)
Bioretention* acres
Delaware has made great progress implementing this practice, far ex-
ceeding its 2013 milestone goal. Delaware’s long-term goals for this
practice are modest, but this success indicates they should consider
setting more aggressive goals.
0
40
60
80
2011 2015 2019 2021 20232013 2017
G
2025
G
20
Progress Relative to Long-Term Goals (acres)
Septic Connections systems
Progress partially reflects efforts to include more accurate, previously
implemented, septic connection data. New regulations and the Gov-
ernor’s Clean Water for Delaware’s Future Initiative, if passed, will re-
sult in additional septic hookups.These new hookups are critical to meeting
aggressive long-term goals.
0
4,000
6,000
8,000
2011 2015 2019 2021 20232013 2017
G
2025
G
2,000
309 (2-YEAR INCREMENTAL PROGRESS)
476 (2-YEAR INCREMENTAL MILESTONE)
= 65%
Progress Relative to Long-Term Goals (systems)
Agriculture
Urban/Suburban
Polluted Runoff Wastewater/Septic
*Cover Crop % accomplished is calculated as 2013 Progress/2013 Milestone
27 (2-YEAR INCREMENTAL PROGRESS)
3 (2-YEAR INCREMENTAL MILESTONE)
= 900%
8,395 (2-YEAR INCREMENTAL PROGRESS)
15,877 (2-YEAR INCREMENTAL MILESTONE)
= 53%
P PROGRESS M MILESTONE
P
M
P
M
P
M
P
M
P
M
P
M
P
M
P
M
P
M
P
M
P
M
P
M
M
P
P
M
*Bioretention acres are designed to collect and filter polluted runoff before it
*reaches rivers, streams, and the Bay.
MILESTONEPROGRESS MILESTONEPROGRESS
MILESTONEPROGRESS MILESTONEPROGRESS
MILESTONEPROGRESS MILESTONEPROGRESS
MILESTONEPROGRESS

3. Assessment of Delaware’s Progress on Selected Pollution-Reduction Practices for 2013
Animal Waste Management System animal units
This practice is one of the most effective at reducing pollution and
Delaware has ramped up implementation in the last couple of years.
However, it missed its 2013 milestone goal. Acheiving Delaware’s
long-term pollution reduction goals will require increased effort and better
data verification to ensure all implementation counts towards meeting goals.
0
20,000
40,000
80,000
2011 2015 2019 2021 2023
0
60,000
2013 2017 2025
G
2013 PROGRESS = 104 ACRES
2013 MILESTONE = 99 ACRES
Progress Relative to Long-Term Goals (animal units)
Grass Buffers acres
Like many states, Delaware needs additional funding resources and
outreach efforts to incentivize the installation of grass buffers.If passed,
the Governor's Clean Water for Delaware’s Future Initiative will provide
additional financial resources.
0
2,000
4,000
10,000
2011 2015 2019 2021 2023
0
8,000
2013 2017 2025
G
6,000
31 (2-YEAR INCREMENTAL PROGRESS)
916 (2-YEAR INCREMENTAL MILESTONE)
= 3%
Progress Relative to Long-Term Goals (acres)
Wetland Restoration acres
Delaware partnered with the U.S.Fish andWildlife Service and Ducks Un-
limited to ensure that Nanticoke Restoration Plan projects are designed
to improve water quality and wildlife habitat.They also want to maximize
resources with partners active in the watershed. Looking forward, Delaware will
need to accelerate wetland protection to meet 2017 and 2025 goals.
0
1,000
2,000
6,000
2011 2015 2019 2021 2023
0
4,000
2013 2017 2025
3,000
5,000
2,109 (2-YEAR INCREMENTAL PROGRESS)
557 (2-YEAR INCREMENTAL MILESTONE)
= 379%
Progress Relative to Long-Term Goals (acres)
Cover Crops acres
Delaware exceeded its 2013 milestone goal, which was set below
2011 implementation, albeit above 2010 implementation. Improve-
ments in tracking implementation by state, federal, and local partners
help explain this apparent disconnect. Delaware is on track to meet its long
term goals if it maintains progress in cover crops.
0
20,000
100,000
2011 2015 2019 2021 2023
0
2013 2017
G
2025
G
40,000
80,000
60,000
49,786 (2013 PROGRESS)
36,809 (2013 MILESTONE)
= 135%*
Progress Relative to Long-Term Goals (acres)
Urban Tree Planting acres
Funds provided by the U.S. Forest Service, Delaware and the Non-
Point Source (319) Program were used to create the “Trees for the
Bay” Program that offers residents a $100 tree coupon with a rain
barrel purchase. Delaware’s 2013 milestone goal was equal to 2011 imple-
mentation, but this successful federal-state partnership demonstrates that
it could set more aggressive targets.
0
40
60
120
2011 2015 2019 2021 2023
100
2013 2017
G
2025
G
20
80
Progress Relative to Long-Term Goals (acres)
Bioretention* acres
Delaware has made great progress implementing this practice, far ex-
ceeding its 2013 milestone goal. Delaware’s long-term goals for this
practice are modest, but this success indicates they should consider
setting more aggressive goals.
0
40
60
80
2011 2015 2019 2021 20232013 2017
G
2025
G
20
Progress Relative to Long-Term Goals (acres)
Septic Connections systems
Progress partially reflects efforts to include more accurate, previously
implemented, septic connection data. New regulations and the Gov-
ernor’s Clean Water for Delaware’s Future Initiative, if passed, will re-
sult in additional septic hookups.These new hookups are critical to meeting
aggressive long-term goals.
0
4,000
6,000
8,000
2011 2015 2019 2021 20232013 2017
G
2025
G
2,000
309 (2-YEAR INCREMENTAL PROGRESS)
476 (2-YEAR INCREMENTAL MILESTONE)
= 65%
Progress Relative to Long-Term Goals (systems)
Agriculture
Urban/Suburban
Polluted Runoff Wastewater/Septic
*Cover Crop % accomplished is calculated as 2013 Progress/2013 Milestone
27 (2-YEAR INCREMENTAL PROGRESS)
3 (2-YEAR INCREMENTAL MILESTONE)
= 900%
8,395 (2-YEAR INCREMENTAL PROGRESS)
15,877 (2-YEAR INCREMENTAL MILESTONE)
= 53%
P PROGRESS M MILESTONE
P
M
P
M
P
M
P
M
P
M
P
M
P
M
P
M
P
M
P
M
P
M
P
M
M
P
P
M
*Bioretention acres are designed to collect and filter polluted runoff before it
*reaches rivers, streams, and the Bay.
MILESTONEPROGRESS MILESTONEPROGRESS
MILESTONEPROGRESS MILESTONEPROGRESS
MILESTONEPROGRESS MILESTONEPROGRESS
MILESTONEPROGRESS

4. Delaware’s Plan for Clean Water: Is the State on Track?
Residents in the region are starting to see the benefits of investments and improvements made in
local waterways and the Chesapeake Bay. The practices that protect and restore our waterways—tree
plantings, conservation planning, septic hookups, and upgrades to wastewater treatment plants—
ultimately improve our quality of life by reducing flooding, securing healthier drinking water, beau-
tifying our neighborhoods, and ensuring safer waters for recreation. Unfortunately, despite making
progress, the Chesapeake Bay watershed still remains a system dangerously out of balance. Too much
nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment pollution continues to run off our lawns, city streets, and farm
fields into local creeks and streams and the Bay.
In 2010, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Bay jurisdictions established science-
based limits for these pollutants and state-specific plans to achieve them, together known as the
Chesapeake Clean Water Blueprint. EPA, the states, and Washington, D.C., also committed to implement
actions to achieve 60 percent of the needed reductions by 2017 and 100 percent by 2025.
To ensure these clean-water efforts stay on track, each of the states and Washington, D.C., committed
to two-year goals or milestones detailing the programs and practices intended to be met in the near-
term to achieve the 2017 and 2025 long-term goals. The milestones are a critical accountability tool,
providing the opportunity to measure progress in the context of long-term Bay restoration efforts. Be-
cause of the importance of the milestones, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and the Choose Clean
Water Coalition are collaborating to evaluate and publicize pollution-reduction progress. This report
evaluates, for select practices, whether Delaware achieved its 2012/2013 two-year milestone goals and
whether or not this progress is on a trajectory to achieve 60 percent implementation by 2017 and full
implementation by 2025.
Conclusion
Delaware achieved its 2013 goals for four of the seven practices evaluated. These successes were due to
strategic funding, partnerships with non-government organizations, and outreach activities. Implement-
ing newly accepted statewide septic and polluted-runoff regulations and collecting critical data related
to agricultural practices will lead to future progress. But there is room for improvement. In 2014, Gov-
ernor Markell announced his Clean Water for Delaware’s Future Initiative which, if approved, will provide
the necessary funding needed to implement additional conservation and infrastructure practices and
upgrades. It is now up to the legislature to pass his proposal.
June 2014
AT A GLANCE
Agriculture
Animal Waste
Management
Grass Buffers
Wetland Restoration
Cover Crops
Urban/Suburban
Bioretention
Urban tree planting
Wastewater/Septic
Septic System
Connection
See the charts on the inside of
this sheet for more information.
For more detailed information
on all of Delaware’s milestone
goals, go to: www.epa.gov/
reg3wapd/tmdl/Chesapeake
Bay/EnsuringResults.html.
2012/2013 FINAL ASSESSMENT
Delaware
Milestones
6 Herndon Avenue | Annapolis, Maryland 21403
888/SAVEBAY | cbf.org
How this Report was Compiled
We selected a subset of implemented practices within three
pollution source categories—agricultural runoff, urban/subur-
ban sources, and wastewater treatment—based on their po-
tential to provide substantial nitrogen, phosphorus, and
sediment pollution reductions and offer important lessons for
implementation moving forward. For each practice, progress
(% achievement) was evaluated by looking at incremental
progress between the base year, 2011, and 2013, compared
to the 2013 milestone goal. Progress during this milestone pe-
riod was also compared to the long-term (2017 and 2025)
implementation benchmarks that the states and Washington,
D.C., committed to in their Watershed Implementation Plans.
Data were provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency’s Chesapeake Bay Program Office.
706 Giddings Avenue 1-B | Annapolis, Maryland 21401
443/759-3400 | choosecleanwater.org
Pollution Reduction in Delaware at a Glance
Delaware’s pollution-reduction efforts have led to mixed
success: It exceeded its wastewater goal but failed to meet its
overall 2013 nitrogen and phosphorus pollution-reduction
goals. To meet long term goals, Delaware will need to increase
its focus and funding on reducing polluted runoff and imple-
menting additional agricultural conservation practices.
Success Story
Partnerships between private and public entities are key to having
clean, healthy water in the Chesapeake Bay region. Rain gardens were
installed in four Seaford elementary schools in the Nanticoke water-
shed thanks to a partnership between National Wildlife Federation
and Delaware Nature Society and with funding support from EPA’s
Chesapeake Bay Implementation grants, the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration, and Delaware’s Department of Natural
Resources and Environmental Control.
In addition to treating polluted runoff from school property, the
project provides an outdoor classroom for 1,870 students and teach-
ers as well as the larger Seaford community. The relationships built
between the state and non-government organizations has provided
a foundation for engaging the public in local water-quality issues.
Future plans include similar partnerships to provide opportunities
for the public to interact with their local waterways, including
kayaking, cleanups by boat, races along waterside trails, and
finding out what concerns residents have about their local waterway.
These projects will empower people through education and inter-
action to take action to protect their local waterways and provide
them opportunities to do so.
0
1
4
2025201720132011
2025
GOAL
WASTEWATER/SEPTIC
AGRICULTURE
POLLUTED RUNOFF
3
2
2017
GOAL
Modeled Nitrogen Loads and Long Term Goals in Delaware
by Sector (millions of pounds)
Source: Chesapeake Bay Program Watershed Model 5.3.2
0
50
100
300
350
2025201720132011
2025
GOAL
WASTEWATER
AGRICULTURE
POLLUTED RUNOFF
250
200
150
2017
GOAL
Modeled Phosphorus Loads and Long Term Goals in Delaware
by Sector (thousands of pounds)
*Pollution reduction is ahead of schedule for this sector.
*
*