Fish, Streams, and Water Quality
Fish, Streams, and Water Quality
Enhanced Understanding of Factors Affecting Stream Condition Can Improve Restoration Outcomes
The Chesapeake Bay watershed supports important recreational and commercial fisheries, but many are declining due to poor water quality, loss of quality habitat and increased invasive species. The USGS science activities are improving the understanding of how restoration and conservation efforts, along with land-use and climate change, are affecting conditions for fish, wildlife, and people.
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Chesapeake Bay Water-Quality Loads and Trends
Access the most recent data gathered from the Chesapeake Bay Nontidal Monitoring Network, learn about the techniques used to collect this data, and read about the history of the Chesapeake Bay Nontidal Monitoring Program. Nontidal Network (NTN) data refers to data from the 123 monitoring stations where nutrients and sediment are collected monthly and during storms. River Input Monitoring (RIM)...
USGS Enhances Statistical Techniques to Assess Water-Quality Trends
The USGS has completed more enhancements to our innovative technique to assess water-quality trends. The WRTDS (Weighted Regressions on Time Discharge and Season) method was first published in 2010 as an exploratory data analysis technique for understanding trends in surface water. Subsequently, we published the EGRET (Exploration and Graphics for RivEr Trends) software which implements the WRTDS...
Excess manure and fertilizer are worsening water-quality conditions on Eastern Shore of Chesapeake
Excess fertilizer and manure applied to the Chesapeake Bay’s Eastern Shore are causing poor water-quality in streams that flow into the Bay, according to a new publication by the U.S. Geological Survey.
Stream temperature rising throughout the Chesapeake Bay region
U.S. Geological Survey research, published in the journal Climatic Change
Sources, Fate, and Transport of Nitrogen and Phosphorus in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed—Interpretations and Applications of Spatially Referenced Regression on Watershed Attributes (SPARROW) Nutrient Model Results
As the largest and most productive estuary in North America, Chesapeake Bay is a vital ecological and economic resource. The bay and its tributaries have been degraded in recent decades, however, by excessive inputs of nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) and sediment from contributing watersheds. In 2000, the bay was listed as “impaired” under the Clean Water Act, and in 2010, a Total Maximum...
USGS Results on Phosphorus Trends
USGS results on phosphorus trends reveal little progress over the past decade. USGS results show phosphorus trends over the past decade do not show improving conditions at a majority of the sites. Water-quality managers call for more actions to increase progress.
USGS Expands Studies of Brook Trout
The USGS has established an experimental stream lab in the Leetown Science Center.
USGS leads STAC report on Land Management Effects on Water-Quality Status and Trends
The Chesapeake Bay is a degraded eutrophic ecosystem with periodic hypoxia and anoxia, algal blooms, diminished submerged aquatic vegetation, and depleted stocks of finfish, crabs, and oysters (Kemp et al. 2005). Since 1983, the seven jurisdictions within the Chesapeake Bay watershed (Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia) have worked...
USGS works with USDA and State Jurisdictions to Enhance Reporting of Agricultural Conservation Practices that Reduce Loss of Nutrients and Sediment in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed
The Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP) is working to enhance reporting of agricultural conservation practices being implemented to reduce the loss of nutrients and sediment from the watershed to Chesapeake Bay. Each year, the six State jurisdictions within the Chesapeake Bay watershed are required to report progress in conservation implementation to the CBP partnership at its Annual Progress Review so...
Human development leads to a decline in stream health
Changes in stream flow and pollution have altered plant, insect and fish communities across the nation.
USGS Works with Partners to Study and Summarize Health of Yellow Perch
The USGS works with U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and Maryland Department of Natural Resources to summarize the effects of suburban lands and contaminants on the health of yellow perch in the Chesapeake Bay.
Water-Quality Improvements Resulting from Suburban Stormwater Management Practices in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed
Overview of Stormwater Practices to Improve Water Quality in Chesapeake Bay As the largest and most productive estuary in North America, Chesapeake Bay is a vital ecological and economic resource. In recent decades, however, the bay and its tributaries have been degraded by excessive inputs of nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) and sediment from contributing watersheds, and in 1998, the bay was...