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The Chesapeake Bay Monitoring Program measures key components of the
ecosystem, including pollutant inputs, water quality, habitat and living
resources. The information is vital for evaluating the progress of
management actions aimed at restoring the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries
for determining attainment of water quality criteria and to providing guidance for future actions. Monitoring
data is also used for research and efforts to model the Bay ecosystem.
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In order for the State of Maryland to assess management
actions aimed at restoring the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries and to track the
effectiveness of the State’s 40% Nutrient Reduction Strategy (Tributary Strategies), the Department of Natural
Resources’ Tidewater Ecosystem Assessment Division is responsible for a comprehensive
long-term water quality and habitat monitoring program in Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay
and tidal tributaries.
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This program builds on
historical monitoring efforts and is coordinated with other state and
federal agencies.
Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay Water Quality Monitoring
Program includes an integrated set of components that together provide a comprehensive
assessment of water quality conditions. This set of water quality and habitat indicators
includes:
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physical/chemical properties,
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nutrient limitation of algal growth,
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ecosystem processes,
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river inputs of nutrients and sediments,
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phytoplankton,
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zooplankton, and
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benthic organisms.
The design, analysis and interpretation of each component
of the program addresses three objectives:
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Characterize existing conditions
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Detect changes and trends in key water quality
variables in response to management actions
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Determine attainment or
non-attainment of water quality criteria
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Understanding processes of how the Bay ecosystem
functions as it relates to anthropogenic and natural stresses, management actions, and
relationships between water quality and living resources
Monitoring for Management Actions
is now available electronically. This 1987 publication is the first report from Maryland's Chesapeake Bay
Monitoring Program and includes information on the basic design and objectives of the Program, which became
the foundation for the current Program. It created the strategy for implementing the Chesapeake Bay
Monitoring Program to provide State managers and policy makers with accurate, timely and comprehensive
information about the Bay's existing condition, how the Bay is responding to management initiatives and how
progress towards Bay protection and restoration were to be measured.
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