Publications

The Chesapeake Bay Contaminated Sediment Critical Issue Forum was structured to seek a technical consensus on a series of questions related to the magnitude and extent of contaminated sediments within the Bay; and how that affects the Chesapeake Bay as compared to other coastal systems.

This report documents the calculations and procedures for the preparation of the input data to the Watershed Model - HSPF Phase 5. These calculations are used for creating the calibration data as well as scenario data. They form the basis of the Nutrient and Sediment Scenario Builder tool. The data created in this tool include: manure and chemical fertilizer applications by each nutrient type, land use in acres, plant uptake (the monthly amount of total nitrogen and total phosphorus taken into the entire plant -- roots, and all above-ground parts), nitrogen fixation (the amount of N fixed by leguminous plants each month), area of soil that is not covered by residue or leaves and is available to be eroded, and the amount of nitrogen from septic system drainage fields.

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Second report to Congress on the atmospheric deposition of pollutants to the Great Waters. This report documents findings since the First Report to Congress and describes recent progress in these issues. This report places emphasis on local and federal activities, including many that support section 112(m) directives, taking place at specific waterbodies including the Chesapeake Bay.

This report examines the cost effectiveness of control options which reduce nitrate deposition to the Chesapeake watershed and the tidal Bay. The object of the analysis is to determine the sources of atmospheric nitrate deposited to the Bay, the loads from each major source, the load reduction amount brought about by controls, and the cost of reductions.

The report includes methods, interpretation of results, results for the Watershed, results by State, wetland loss hotspots, discussion and conclusions and recommendations.

In this report, a comparison data set with helix and block results for the same samples was analyzed to estimate the magnitude of the low bias of the helix method compared to the block method.

Water quality in Chesapeake Bay has degraded over the past 50 years with respect to oxygen depletion and reduced light attenuation. While the causes are numerous, sediment resuspension from wave and tidal action cloud the water column and reduce light attenuation thereby negatively affecting submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) beds. Sediments on the Bay bottom come from upland runoff and shoreline erosion, each of which has significant contributions to the loading of sediments into estuary. The purpose of this report is to assess the present methods used to calculate sediment loading from tidal shoreline erosion that is input to the Chesapeake Bay Water Quality Model (WQM).

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This first-of-its-kind report synthesizes more than a decade's worth of data from public and private sources, highlights current forest conditions, forecasts future trends, and outlines key goals and strategies necessary to conserve and restore the forests of the Chesapeake Bay watershed. The report calls for a strategic, long-term approach that identifies and focuses on forests with the highest environmental, economic, and social values. Together, public and private partners can help preserve the health of the Chesapeake Bay and its residents through a concerted effort to protect its forests.

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A literature review was conducted to determine the effectiveness of forestry best management practices (BMPs) in reducing water quality impacts of forestry management operations within the Piedmont and Ridge-and-Valley of the Chesapeake Bay watershed (CBW). Two apsects of BMP effectiveness were addressed: the ability of BMPs to reduce impacts on water quality, and compliance with state-recommended BMPs.

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This report focuses on the identified need of the Chesapeake bay Program to better simulate nitrogen outputs from the forested portions of the Bay drainage and a short-term desire to the US EPA to be able to build off of the existing HSPF model, if possible, for implementation within one to two years. In addition, EPA was interested in a model that would be responsive to changes in atmospheric deposition. Three activities were undertaken to meet EPA's needs 1.) reviewed the literature on forest N pools and fluxes, 2.) reviewed N data from research catchments in the Chesapeake Bay Drainage Basin, and 3.) convened a workshop of scientists knowledgeable about forest N literature, data, and models. The workshop undertook the following tasks: 1.)Evaluate how realistic the estimated N loads were from forested watersheds using the current model, 2.) Evaluate the HSPF AGCHEM module structure with regard to possible modification and use for a new forest module, 3.) Identify available data for parameterization and verification of a new forest module. This document reports on their findings and conclusions from these activities.

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