WILLIAMSPORT — The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection announced that twelve counties in DEP’s Northcentral Region, including Potter County, have taken the first significant step to improving the health of local waterways.

The counties, with the assistance of DEP, are creating Countywide Action Plans (CAP) to identify projects that will reduce nutrient and sediment pollution in the Susquehanna River and its tributaries and are looking for local groups to get involved.

The effort is part of the state-coordinated Phase 3 Watershed Implementation Plan to improve water quality to benefit local communities, economy, and quality of life in Pennsylvania’s share of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, while meeting U.S. Environmental Protection Agency pollution reduction requirements for the Bay.

The CAPs are designed to, among many things, identify best management practice (BMP) projects in each county that can decrease the levels of nitrogen and phosphorous, two leading sources of pollution, in local waterways. Some of those projects could include stream bank and floodplain restoration, streamside tree plantings, culvert replacement, streambank fencing, and many others. They also provide farmers with tools to implement BMPs on their properties, in particular, effective management of manure, another source of pollution in waterways. Cover crops, soil and water conservation planning, and agriculture erosion and sediment control are among many others.

County participation in the CAPs is voluntary and the plans are being administered by county conservation districts and county planning departments. All counties in Pennsylvania’s share of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, with the exception of those with minimal pollutant loadings, opted into developing CAPs. Eight counties have already completed their plans during an earlier planning phase and have begun implementing projects.

The 12 Northcentral counties will begin implementing their completed CAPs in September.