The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection awarded $17.7 million in 2026 Countywide Action Plan (CAP) Coordinator and Implementation Grants to county teams across Pennsylvania’s portion of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed to support the Commonwealth’s shared progress in reducing nutrient and sediment pollution to restore the health of local streams, rivers, and lakes.
The 2026 CAP Implementation Grant application round resulted in 222 approved projects that counties may complete over the next 12 to 24 months, resulting in an estimated reduction of more than 113,493 pounds/year of nitrogen, 28,816 pounds/year of phosphorus, and 11.8 million pounds/year of sediment delivered to the Chesapeake Bay. Pennsylvania has reduced more than 10 times the amount of nitrogen in the past 5 years than in the previous ten years, and water quality monitoring data shows significant improvements in nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment levels.
“Pennsylvania’s clean water successes are rooted in collaboration—state, local, federal, legislative, and non-governmental partners, and of course landowners,” said DEP Secretary Jessica Shirley. “The work will continue to evolve, and our focus will remain on setting our collaborative partnerships up for success well beyond 2025. The momentum is real, and you can see it in our improved water quality.”
The Chesapeake Executive Council is composed of the Governors of Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia, the Mayor of the District of Columbia, the Chair of the Chesapeake Bay Commission, and the Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
At the meeting the Chesapeake Executive Council also approved the revised Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement. The refreshed Watershed Agreement commits signatories to address nutrient and sediment goals and outcomes by 2040, with a midpoint assessment in 2033, coinciding with the 50-year anniversary of the Chesapeake Bay Program. Under the Shapiro Administration, Pennsylvania has accelerated progress toward its clean water goals by investing new financial resources, targeting high performing pollution reduction strategies, implementing innovative technical solutions, listening to local leaders and stakeholders, and providing sustained support to implement county-based action plans.
The 2025 CAP Implementation Grants include $9.5 million from the state Environmental Stewardship Fund and $6.2 million in federal funding from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), including $1.1 million in Local Government Implementation (LGI) Funds for project implementation in the Octoraro Watershed in Chester and Lancaster counties. The LGI projects will be reported to support pollution reduction goals under the multi-jurisdictional Conowingo Watershed Implementation Plan, which aims to reduces pollution entering the Chesapeake Bay from the Conowingo Dam reservoir.
Through an innovative new arrangement, the block grant funding model of the CAP Implementation Grant has enabled DEP’s Bureau of Clean Water to provide $100,000 of 604(b) Clean Water Act planning funds to Mifflin County in support of restoration of the Town Run Watershed and $114,000 of federal Chesapeake Bay Implementation Grant funding through the Bureau of Watershed Restoration and Nonpoint Source Management for restoration efforts in the Hammer Creek Watershed. This is the first time the 604(b) Clean Water Act planning funds have been targeted through a partnership between DEP programs toward the Countywide Action Plans.
The 2026 CAP Implementation Grants were awarded to:
- Adams County Conservation District: $490,329
- Bedford County Conservation District: $473,321
- Berks County Conservation District: $200,000
- Blair County Conservation District:308,095
- Bradford County Conservation District: $468,131
- Cambria County Conservation District: $200,000
- Centre County Government: $566,399
- Chester County Conservation District: $1,265,544
- Clearfield County Conservation District: $368,209
- Clinton County Commissioners: $162,000
- Columbia County Conservation District: $393,398
- Cumberland County Commissioners: $625,176
- Franklin County Conservation District: $808,103
- Fulton County Conservation District: $200,000
- Huntingdon County Conservation District: $409,134
- Lackawanna County Conservation District: $233,785
- Lancaster County Conservation District: $2,257,972
- Lebanon County Conservation District: $624,483
- Luzerne Conservation District: $367,417
- Montour County Conservation District: $400,000 for Montour and Sullivan counties
- Northumberland County Conservation District: $530,078
- Potter County Conservation District: $200,000
- Schuylkill Conservation District: $313,729
- Snyder County Conservation District: $609,518 for Snyder and Union counties
- Susquehanna County: $293,436
- Tioga County Conservation District: $328,183
- Tri-County Regional Planning Commission: $1,652,102 for Dauphin, Perry, Juniata, and Mifflin counties
- York County Planning Commission: $1,163,118
Nutrient pollution and eroded sediment enter streams, rivers, and lakes from a range of human activities on land, including overapplication of fertilizer, plowing and tilling farm fields, stripping away trees and vegetation, and increasing paved surfaces.
