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Chesapeake Bay BMP Verification Overview
The Chesapeake Bay Program partners have formally defined "best management practice" (BMP) verification as "the process through which agency partners ensure practices, treatments and technologies resulting in reductions of nitrogen, phosphorus and/or sediment pollutant loads are implemented and operating correctly." BMP verification can be viewed as a life cycle process that includes initial inspection, follow-up checks and evaluation of BMP performance. It is critical for Chesapeake Bay Program partners to verify that BMPs across the region are being implemented correctly and are, in fact, effectively reducing nutrient and sediment pollution as expected. It will help the partnership to measure success, locate areas in which partners need to adapt, and ensure that these conservation and technical practices are doing the job of protecting people's properties, lands, riparian habitats and local streams. More information on verification can be found on the Chesapeake Bay Program's website.
Virginia's BMP Verification Plan
EPA Region 3 approved Virginia's BMP Verification Program Plan annual update to the Chesapeake Bay Program Office (CBPO) on February 25, 2025. This version includes substantial formatting edits to meet revised EPA Quality Assurance Project Plan standards.
Virginia Statewide Land Cover Database
DEQ, in partnership with the Virginia Information Technologies Agency, completed the Virginia Statewide Land Cover Database.
A one-meter resolution classification of 2013-2015 imagery of the Commonwealth. Before development and release of the database, the latest available statewide land cover data in Virginia were from the 2011 National Land Cover Database, released at 30-meter resolution. The increased level of detail represented by the high-resolution Virginia database significantly improves the Commonwealth’s capabilities for geographic analysis, management, and monitoring applications in biology, climate, disease analysis, land management, hydrology, and environmental planning, among other applications.
BMP Warehouse Webinars and Related Documents
DEQ hosted its Annual BMP Warehouse Update webinar on July 31, 2025.
Discussion topics included setting up a BMP Warehouse account, uploading data, searching/exporting data, updating existing records, reporting BMPs requiring multiple measures, and DEQ’s data quality assurance process.
2025 BMP Warehouse webinar recording
2025 BMP Warehouse webinar presentation
Additional resources:
2022 BMP Warehouse webinar recording
2022 BMP Warehouse webinar presentation