An Agreement for Clean Water
2025 Choose Clean Water Coalition Annual Report
For years, 2025 served as a critical benchmark for the Chesapeake restoration effort. First established as the date by which all projects would be in place to achieve our water quality goals, it was also adopted as the target for achieving the goals and outcomes set in the 2014 Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement. The 2025 deadline was also the catalyst for the creation of this Coalition—a coordinated group of advocates who would ensure steady progress and hold the Chesapeake Bay states and the federal government to their commitments.
Given this connection, the Coalition has devoted much of the last several years to ensuring the Chesapeake Bay Program achieved as many of their goals as possible. With the deadline fast approaching, our focus shifted to advocating for a strong revised Agreement that built on the achievements of the previous Agreement and addressed the barriers where the Program fell short. Coalition members from all seven Bay watershed jurisdictions advocated for a strong revised Agreement through public forums and listening sessions, speaking directly with their state leadership, and submitting written comments directly to the Chesapeake Bay Program. Nearly 100 members of the Coalition signed onto the Coalition’s feedback letter during the public comment period. And the Coalition’s letter made a difference, with several of our comments directly incorporated into the final Agreement.
“Advocating for a strong revised Bay Agreement was a massive undertaking that demonstrated Coalition members’ wealth of knowledge and passion for the Bay. The result may have fallen short in some areas. But members were able to share our on-the-
ground lessons learned to help mold an agreement that sets the restoration partners up well for the next 15 years and reaffirms our shared commitment to saving the Bay”
While the final revised Agreement does not include everything we wanted, it is stronger because of our advocacy. The Agreement remains broad and comprehensive, elevates the importance of conservation, and includes goals for living resources and indicator species of watershed health.
As we have for the last 16 years, the Coalition will continue to track progress toward these revised goals. And given the likelihood that we will achieve several of the new targets in the Agreement before the new date of 2040, we will be ready to advocate for new and ambitious targets. With the health of our precious waterways at stake, we are committed to aiming high and setting our expectations at a level that fosters urgency, innovation, and progress for our rivers, streams, and communities in the Chesapeake watershed.