Coastal SEES (Track 2), Collaborative: Improving Chesapeake Bay water quality by creating sustainable coastal watersheds

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Coastal water quality is controlled by land uses in the surrounding watershed and is declining in many coastal regions. The land that drains toward estuaries contributes pollutants (primarily nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment) from fertilized lawns, septic systems, and sewage treatment plants. Water quality in the Choptank River and estuary, which flow into the Chesapeake Bay, is declining because of runoff from agriculture, but sewage disposal is also a contributing source of nutrients. Better management of cultivated and residential land is required to improve water quality, and many best management practices are employed to reduce pollutants. Although we know a great deal about how some individual Best Management Practices remove nutrients and other pollutants, best management practices have never been tested at the watershed scale to determine if they actually improve receiving water quality. This research will study the people and land management of four Choptank watersheds. The researchers will determine the attitudes towards adoption of best management practices, mechanisms of pollutant reduction in specific best management practices, and landscape water quality as a result of widespread implementation. Many government programs are committed to encouraging best management practices to improve water quality, but there is uncertainty whether commonly applied best management practices significantly reduce pollutant fluxes from watersheds to estuaries. The Choptank study will provide an important test of the effectiveness of best management practices at the watershed scale, the results of which can potentially be applied elsewhere. This project will involve education of residents, farmers, the media, and government officials, and will also involve scouts and 4-H organizations. The research has the potential to identify effective best management practices and to create sustainable, agricultural watersheds in the coastal zone.