STAC Criteria Addendum Review: Ambient Water Quality Criteria for DO, Water Clarity and Chla
This document provides refinements and clarifications to the previously published Chesapeake Bay water quality criteria assessment procedure.
Description
The Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP) partnership requested that the Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee (STAC) provide a scientific review of the 2017 Technical Addendum to the document: “Ambient Water Quality Criteria for Dissolved Oxygen, Water Clarity and Chlorophyll-a for the Chesapeake Bay and Its Tidal Tributaries.” This addendum was developed by the Criteria Assessment Protocol Workgroup of the Scientific, Technical, Assessment and Reporting (STAR) team, and provides refinements and clarifications to the previously published Chesapeake Bay water quality criteria assessment procedures.
The Criteria Addendum Review Team was selected based on their expertise in estuarine dissolved oxygen, submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV), chlorophyll, water clarity, statistics and application of water quality criteria in the context of a total maximum daily load (TMDL). The team was asked to address questions regarding the overall appropriateness and justification of the approach taken, the clarity of the document in providing a complete set of guidance for assessing water quality standards attainment, the scientific rigor of the methods used, and provide recommendations to the CBP about potential future enhanced criteria-assessment procedures.