Bay Earns Its Highest Score in 40 Years as Choptank Again Scores Lowest Among Watershed Regions

WOODBRIDGE, VIRGINIA — The Chesapeake Bay earned a C+ on the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science's annual report card, the highest score in 40 years of tracking. The Choptank watershed region again scored lowest among the watershed regions it grades.

The Bay scored 56%, up from a C, or 50%, on last year's report card. The center credited ongoing restoration investments and noted that 2025 was a relatively dry year, so less water carried pollutants from the land into waterways. The report covers data collected through December 2025 and was released Oct. 13.

The Choptank scored a C-, or 43%, on the watershed side of the report card, up from 42% last year, when it was also the lowest-scoring region. The Elizabeth and Chemung followed this year at 47%. Watershed scores combine ecology, society and economy measures, not water quality alone.

The watershed as a whole kept its C+ grade, though its score slipped to 56% from 57% last year. Its water quality index scored a B-, at 61%, and is improving over time. Only two regions showed declining water quality trends, the Lower Eastern Shore and the Lower James.

In the Bay itself, eight of 15 regions showed improving health trends, including the Lower Eastern Shore and the Upper Bay, while seven showed no trend. Dissolved oxygen was the highest-scoring indicator, with an A, or 85%. Water clarity scored lowest, a D at 25%, up from an F last year, though the report says clarity and chlorophyll a still show declining long-term trends.

"The improving water quality over the Chesapeake Bay Watershed is really encouraging. The scores for the tidal portion of the Chesapeake Bay also continue to improve. Taken together, this is strong evidence that restoration efforts are working. We have a long way to go, but we are headed in the right direction," said Dr. Heath Kelsey, director of the center's Integration and Application Network.

The report also notes that since 2014, 11 Bay tributaries in Maryland and Virginia have restored and protected about 2,400 acres of oyster reef habitat, with more than 7.5 billion oysters planted. The center says it is working with partners to add oysters and other fisheries indicators to future report cards.