Why It Matters

Restoring the Chesapeake Bay remains a multibillion-dollar undertaking, and Congress faces questions about whether existing federal funding is sufficient to meet restoration goals as the regional partnership begins working toward a revised set of targets.

A 2014 cost estimate suggested $5 billion per year would be needed to implement the Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load, or TMDL, by 2025. By comparison, the Congressional Research Service estimates that federal agencies received more than $5.7 billion for Bay restoration activities over the 10-year period from FY2014 through FY2024. However, CRS cautioned that previous estimates of the total cost of restoring the Bay were not comprehensive and may now be outdated.

The funding question matters because restoration involves federal agencies, states, local governments and other partners rather than a single federal funding stream. The Trump administration's proposed EPA budget would reduce the agency's overall funding by 52% compared with FY2026 enacted levels, although the administration proposes a much smaller reduction to EPA's Chesapeake Bay Geographic Program, from $93 million to approximately $91.8 million.

The Big Picture

The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States, and its watershed spans more than 64,000 square miles across six states and the District of Columbia. More than 18 million people live within the watershed. Ecological deterioration has resulted from land-use changes, nutrient and sediment pollution, chemical contaminants and fertilizers, overfishing and over-harvesting of aquatic species, and invasive species.

Chesapeake Bay restoration has proceeded through a combination of voluntary interstate agreements and federal and state regulatory requirements. The original 1983 Chesapeake Bay Agreement was signed by the governors of Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia, the mayor of the District of Columbia, the chair of the Chesapeake Bay Commission and the EPA administrator. Congress later formally authorized the Chesapeake Bay Program through 1987 Clean Water Act amendments.

The Chesapeake Bay TMDL, established by EPA in 2010 under the Clean Water Act, set limits on nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment pollution entering the Bay and its tidal tributaries. EPA's current budget justification states that jurisdictions had implemented practices sufficient to achieve 59% of the required nitrogen reductions, 92% of phosphorus reductions and 100% of sediment reductions as of 2024.

The Chesapeake Executive Council revised the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement in December 2025 after many of the previous agreement's outcomes reached their 2025 target dates without being completed. The revised agreement establishes four overarching goals and 21 outcomes, with the partnership scheduled to formally assess progress in 2040.

Some restoration areas have advanced while others remain behind schedule. As of September 2025, EPA reported that 19 outcomes under the previous agreement were on course or completed, 11 were off course and one was uncertain.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture had the largest share of federal Bay restoration funding in FY2024 at $266 million. Federal agencies collectively estimated $591.1 million in Bay restoration funding that year, while CRS estimates that Congress provided more than $5.7 billion for federal Bay restoration activities between FY2014 and FY2024.

EPA's FY2027 Congressional Justification proposes approximately $91.8 million for the Chesapeake Bay Geographic Program, down approximately $1.2 million from the FY2026 enacted level. EPA directs more than three-fourths of the program's appropriated funding to grants and cooperative agreements supporting restoration activities.

The Bottom Line

Congress faces questions about how much Chesapeake Bay restoration will ultimately cost, what portion of those costs the federal government should bear and whether existing funding is sufficient to meet the partnership's revised restoration goals. CRS notes that existing estimates of total restoration costs are incomplete or outdated and suggests Congress could direct the Chesapeake Bay Program or another entity to develop an updated estimate that identifies restoration activities, expected results, timelines and the anticipated federal share.

Nonpoint source pollution, particularly agricultural runoff, remains one of the central challenges. H.R. 2091, the Chesapeake Bay Conservation Acceleration Act, introduced by Rep. Rob Wittman (R-VA), would expand voluntary conservation efforts on farms throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed to improve water quality and soil health.

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