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

沿海水质受周围分水岭的土地利用控制，在许多沿海地区正在下降。向河口排水的土地从肥沃的草坪、化粪池系统和污水处理厂排放污染物(主要是氮、磷和沉积物)。由于农业的径流，流入切萨皮克湾的乔普坦克河和河口的水质正在下降，但污水处理也是营养物质的一个重要来源。为了改善水质，需要更好地管理耕地和住宅用地，并采用许多最佳管理做法来减少污染物。虽然我们对一些个别最佳管理做法如何去除营养物质和其他污染物有很多了解，但从未在分水岭规模上测试过最佳管理做法，以确定它们是否真的改善了接收水的质量。本研究将以四个萧邦流域的人地管理为研究对象。研究人员将确定对采用最佳管理做法的态度、在特定最佳管理做法中减少污染物的机制，以及由于广泛实施而产生的景观水质。许多政府项目致力于鼓励最佳管理实践以改善水质，但普遍应用的最佳管理实践是否能显著减少从流域到河口的污染物通量尚不确定。乔普坦克的研究将对分水岭范围内最佳管理做法的有效性进行一次重要的检验，其结果可能适用于其他地方。该项目将涉及居民、农民、媒体和政府官员的教育，还将涉及童子军和4-H组织。这项研究有可能确定有效的最佳管理做法，并在沿海地区建立可持续的农业流域。

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.