National Water-Quality Assessment--Potomac River Basin: Design of a Multi-Scale Water-Quality Assessment for the Potomac River Basin
By James M. Gerhart and John W. Brakebill
Abstract
A multi-scale water-quality assessment program has been designed for the 14,670-square-mile Potomac River basin, as part of the U.S. Geological Survey's long-term National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) program. The design consists of four components of progressively finer scale: (1) basin- wide, (2) physiographic-lithologic subunits within the basin, (3) major land- use types within the subunits, and (4) small watersheds within the land-use types. The four components are nested and closely integrated to provide complementary surface-water, ground-water, and ecological assessment at different spatial scales, ranging from the description of occurrence and distribution at the basinwide scale to the definition of water-quality processes at the small-watershed scale. In addition to these four components of assessment within the Potomac River basin, the design has been tailored to contribute selected data and interpretations to the ongoing regional assess- ment of the Chesapeake Bay drainage and the national assessment being conducted by the NAWQA program. The design has been guided by a liaison committee consisting of representatives from 25 federal, regional, and state agencies and universities, in order to ensure that the results of the assessment will be relevant to regulatory agencies, policy makers, and the public.
Citation
Gerhart, J. M., and Brakebill, J. W., 1993, Design of a multi-scale water-quality assessment for the Potomac River Basin [abs.] : EOS, Transactions of the American Geophysical Union, Supplement with abstracts for the 1993 Spring Meeting, Baltimore, Md.
