Synthesis of Nutrient and Sediment Data for Watersheds Within the Chesapeake Bay Drainage Basin
- Published:
- January 1, 1995
- Originator:
- USGS/US Environmental Protection Agency
Nutrient and sediment data collected by Federal and state agencies from 1972 through 1992 at 1,058 surface-water sites in nontidal parts of the Chesapeake Bay Basin were compiled into a large database. Adequate nutrient, sediment and stream flows data were not available to compute annual loads for all sites because water quality monitoring at many of the sites was either short term or noncontinuous or because streaamflow was not measured. Annual nutrient and sediment loads were calculated at a total of 127 sites. Annual loads of dissolved nitrate were caluclated for 108 sites, but total nitrogen loads could be calculated for only 48 of these sites because ammoia plus organic nitrogen data were not available for many of these 108 sites. Annual loads of total phosphorus were calculated for 99 sites, and annual loads of suspended sediment were calculated for 33 sites. Loads could be calculated for only a few sites in the Juniata River Basin (a tributary to the Susquehanna River), the York River Basin, the middle and lower reaches of the James River, and the nntidal parts of the eastern shore of the Bay.