Publications

A study to determine the factors contributing to water column light attenuation was conducted at the deep edges of seven seagrass beds in Sarasota Bay. In situ and water quality data were collected biweekly and attenuation was remeasured under a variety of controlled conditions in the laboratory. Monthly determinations of epiiphytic attenuation and special absorption were conducted. Water column attenuation was partitioned into the fractions contributed by the water itself, color, chlorophyll, and nonchlorophyll suspended matter, and empirical regression models developed for field and laboratory attenuation.

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The Guidelines for Preparing Economic Analyses (orEA Guidelines) is part of a continuing effort by the EPA to develop improved guidance on the preparation and use of sound science in support of the decision making process. The EA Guidelines provide guidance on analyzing the benefits, costs and economic impacts of regulations and policies. The document draws from several previously published sources, including existing economic guidelines materials prepared by the EPA in the mid-1980's, other Agency economic analyses and handbooks, and materials prepared by the Office of Management and Budget in support of Executive Order 12866 on regulatory planning and analysis. It seeks to incorporate recent theoretical, empirical, and modeling advances in envirojmental economics, drawing upon the considerable body of scholarly literature.

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This workbook provides guidance for those seeking to remove a designated use (such as might occur under a Use Attainability), or obtain a variance based n economic considerations, or to lower water quality in a high-quality water. In addition, it provides guidance to States and EPA regions responsible for reviewing requests for variances and modifications to designated uses, and for approval of antidegradation analyses. The guidance describes the types of information and analyses that should be considered by applicants and reviewers. The guidance, however, is not an exhaustive description of appropriate economic impact analyses. Additional information and tests may be necessary and/or in certain circumstances.

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This report summarizes data on the physical, chemical and biological characteristics of three types of sites--submersed aquatic vegetation beds dominated by Hydrilla Verticillate, beds containing a diversity of submersed macrophyte species, and sites without vegetation. The data were collected diurnally and seasonally in the tidal Potomac River during 1987. Plant species were identified and dry weight determined for samples from each vegetated site.Algal photosynthetic rate and bacterial zooplankton and vegetation-associated invertebrates were sampled and enumerated.

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This is an alphabetical list of economists in the Chesapeake Bay region.

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The efficient use of nutrients in agricultural production systems has important environmental implications. The potential exists, for accelerated nutrient loss, when the amount of essential nutrients exceeds the uptake needs of a crop over time. Nutrient reactions and pathways in the soil-water system are complex and nutrients vary in their potential for transport to surface water and groundwater. Similarily, certain nutrients pose serious water quality threats while others are of little concern. The purpose of this manual is to familiarize the reader with the soil recations and potential loss pathways of the essential plant nutrients and provide a framework for effective nutrient management planning.

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The Initiative effort brought together the agricultural and environmental sectors in the Bay Watershed to devise a joint strategyfor agriculture in the Bay. This diverse group of over eighty people from Maryland, Pennsylvania, virginia, and the District of Columbia included representatives from farm organization, environmental groups, the private sector, research institutions, state legislatures, and agricultural and environmental agencies. The effort also included a significant number of federal representatives from the Department of Agriculture, the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. For the first time in theBay Program, all three states' Secretaries or Commissioners of Agriculture and heads of agricultural universities became directly involved in the Bay cleanup effort.

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The U.S.Environmental Protection Agency in its ongoing efforts to improve the technical basis for NPS management perceived a need for research initiatives that consider BMP longevity. Three offices collaborated in designing and guiding the present study: The Chesapeake Bay Liaison Office (CBLO), the Office of Program Policy and Evaluation and Office of Water. The primary goal of this pilot analysis to consider the relative effectiveness of Best Management Practices (BMP) for control of agricultural nonpoint source pollution after they have been in use for some time. In addition, the study:

1. identifies and describes time associated factors which affect BMP effectiveness;

2. evaluates operation and maintenance (O&M) activities that can extend the lifetime of BMPs; and

3. develops a methodology for qualitiatively assessing BMP long-term effectiveness in the field.

The purpose of this paper is to estimate the benefits of water quality legislation in the Bay region from 1972, the year the Clean Water Act was promulgated, to 1996. Nutrients, nitrogen and phosphorous, are the dominant criteria addressed by this case study. Benefits are assessed from a "with-without" perspective. That is, 1996 water quality is compared with what it would have been in 1996 without the Clean Water Act and related legislation. The US EPA Chesapeake Bay Program Watershed and Water Quality Models were used to determine the distribution of nutrient loadings from point and non-point sources and characterize water quality.

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this study assesses the magnitude of these costs in recent years, now that the CWA has been in place for over a quarter century. To properly account for these costs, it is important to stress that some of the costs that are currently being incurred to reduce water pollution would have existed even without the CWA. Although the CWA established a discharge permit system and provided significant federal financial assistance for constructing public treatment facilities, significant public and private investments in water pollution control existed prior to 1972. These expenditures would most likely have continued to grow after 1972 even if the CWA had not been enacted. Therefore, the approach taken in this study is to, not only estimate recent nationwide costs of water pollution abatement (WPA), but also to simulate and deduct from these estimates the WPA costs that would have been incurred with the CWA.

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