Watershed Technical Workgroup

The Watershed Technical Workgroup provides a forum for communication and discussion between and among jurisdictions and other Chesapeake Bay Program partners on technical issues related to best management practices, Watershed Model processes and management strategy development and implementation reporting.

Meetings

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About

The charge of the cross-sector Watershed Technical Workgroup is to provide a forum for communication and discussion between and among the jurisdictions and other CBP participants on technical issues related to Best Management Practices (BMPs), Chesapeake Bay Watershed Model processes, and management strategy development and implementation reporting. Functions include:

  • Support the Water Quality Goal Implementation Team (WQGIT) and the greater Bay Program partners in implementing management strategies to achieve the nutrient and sediment reductions necessary to restore the Bay.
  • Support development of BMP Expert Panel technical appendices.
  • Review and approve the recommended BMP definitions and efficiencies from source workgroups and local jurisdictions, in collaboration with the Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee (STAC) and WQGIT workgroups. Ensure that BMPs are consistent across sectors and communicated clearly.
  • Review and approve how BMPs are simulated in the Watershed Model to ensure that the assumptions accurately reflect real world conditions and are consistent and equitable between the different sectors.
  • Review and approve how BMPs are tracked and reported by CBP partner jurisdictions and agencies for use in the Watershed Model to ensure that the assumptions accurately reflect real world conditions and are consistent and equitable between the different sectors and are communicated clearly.
  • Provide technical review & recommendations to the CBP Modeling team and WQGIT on updates to Watershed Model Processes, input data, and assessment of annual progress.

Projects

Phase 7 Model Development

In Progress

These updated modeling tools will be used by the Chesapeake Bay Program partnership to inform decisions related to the nutrient and sediment reduction goals outlined in the 2014 Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement.

Publications

A Ten Year Summary of Concurrent Ambient Water Column and Sediment Toxicity Tests in the Chesapeake

Publication date:

The goal of this study was to identify the relative toxicity of ambient areas in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed by using a suite of concurrent water column and sediment toxicity tests at seventy-five ambient stations in 20 Chesapeake Bay rivers from 1990 through 1999. Spatial and temporal variability was examined at selected locations throughout the 10 yr. study. Inorganic and organic contaminants were evaluated in ambient water and sediment concurrently with water column and sediment tests to assess possible causes of toxicity although absolute causality can not be established. Multivariate statistical analysis was used to develop a multiple endpoint toxicity index (TOX-INDEX) at each station for both water column and sediment toxicity data.

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