Water Quality

Farmers are an important part of the economy and heritage of the Chesapeake Bay. Farmers also act as stewards of the land and water. Across the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, members of the agricultural community are volunteering to adopt conservation practices on their land. The goal of these practices is to protect the health of the soil, local streams and rivers, and the Chesapeake Bay. These...

Issue: Adaptive management in support of Chesapeake Bay restoration is complicated by uncertainty about the effects of agricultural management practices on water quality. Despite increasing investment, effects of agricultural conservation practices on regional water quality remain difficult to quantify due to factors such as groundwater travel times, varying modes-of-action, and the general lack...

The 2012 SPAtially Referenced Regression On Watershed attributes (SPARROW) Models measure the damaging contaminants of phosphorus, nitrogen, and suspended sediment in streamflow throughout the Northeast United States. Through various types of watershed management practices, loads of nutrients and suspended sediment are significantly reduced within the stream network in impounded reaches, and...

Major releases of chlorinated benzenes and benzene are known to have occurred at the Standard Chlorine of Delaware Inc. Superfund Site from 1966-2002, resulting in contamination of the groundwater underlying the site and the wetlands surrounding Red Lion Creek. Although installation of a groundwater interception and treatment system has been completed around the main facility, wetland and sediment...