Susquehanna River Basin Commission, MD Dept. Of Environment Award $12 Million+ To Support 5 Projects To Reduce Sediment, Nutrient Pollution Under Conowingo Pay-For-Success Program

Posted Thursday, October 29, 2026 10:29 am

David E. Hess (via PA Environmental Digest)

On October 29, the Susquehanna River Basin Commission and the Maryland Department of the Environment announced more than $12 million in funding for five projects that will help mitigate water quality impacts of the Conowingo Reservoir on the Chesapeake Bay.

This is the second round of funding provided by the State of Maryland to meet nutrient reduction goals of the Conowingo Watershed Implementation Plan (CWIP).

Pay-for-Success Awardees:

-- Conservation Innovation Fund (Conservation tillage, cover crops, barnyard/lot/manure management - Susquehanna Watershed) - $1,244,823

-- Keystone Streams, LLC (Forest riparian buffers - PA) - $1,186,453

-- Lancaster Farmland Trust (Barnyard/lot/manure management, stream exclusion fencing, forest riparian buffers - PA) - $2,499,501

-- Rosetree Consulting, LLC (Precision nutrient management - PA, MD)) - $3,281,747

-- Ecotone, LLC (Stream restoration - MD) - $3,822,870

Click Here for summaries of the projects.

The CWIP addresses nutrient loads associated with increased sediments entering the Chesapeake Bay as a result of Conowingo Dam reaching its trapping capacity.

It has been determined that the reservoir has reached dynamic equilibrium due to filling with sediment and is no longer preventing a portion of the Susquehanna River pollutant load from flowing downstream into the Bay.

The SRBC and MDE partnered for this innovative financial and scientific approach that uses a “pay-for-success” model, which provides payment for verified environmental outcomes only upon demonstration of successful implementation.

As an interstate agency, SRBC is able to serve as the financing authority.

This allows Maryland to fund projects upstream throughout the Susquehanna River Basin, across state boundaries in both Pennsylvania and New York, and count those nutrient reductions against Maryland’s CWIP obligations.

“Pay-for-success puts the best ideas to work for the Bay," said MDE Secretary Serena McIlwain. "These five projects are projected to keep more than 200,000 pounds of nitrogen out of the Chesapeake Bay every year, and Maryland pays only for the pollution reductions that are proven. That is how we get cleaner water at a lower cost, and it is why we will keep funding this program and others like it.”

The competitive process yielded impressive contemporary approaches with nitrogen reduction prices reaching as low as $6 per pound.

Collectively, the awarded projects are projected to reduce nitrogen loads by more than 200,000 pounds annually, for a total of approximately one million pounds of nitrogen reduced over the lifespans of the projects funded.

“With the close of this second round, our agency is proud to say that we are on target to achieve Maryland’s annual pollutant reduction goals for Conowingo for the next three years,” said SRBC Executive Director Andrew Dehoff. “We are excited to work with MDE to continue the success of this program and expand reductions to cover their future needs.”

Visit the Conowingo Watershed Implementation Plan webpage for more information.

For more information on programs, training opportunities and upcoming events, visit the Susquehanna River Basin Commission website. Click Here to sign up for SRBC’s newsletter. Follow SRBC on Twitter, visit them on YouTube.

(Photo: Conowingo Dam sediment pollution from tropical storm runoff.)