The newest Bay agreement, Chesapeake 2000: A Watershed Partnership, states that “Improving water quality is the most critical element in the overall protection and restoration of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries” and further, it commits to “by 2010, correct the nutrient- and sediment-related problems in the Chesapeake Bay and its tidal tributaries sufficiently to remove the Bay and the tidal portions of its tributaries from the list of impaired waters under the Clean Water Act.” In pursuit of this goal, the Bay partners agreed to “By 2003, the jurisdictions with tidal waters will use their best efforts to adopt new or revised water quality standards consistent with the defined water quality conditions.”
EPA guidance on new water quality criteria for the Chesapeake Bay was published in April 2003. The development of these new water quality standards for turbidity (i.e. light attenuation), chlorophyll, and dissolved oxygen, have placed new requirements on accurate measurements of the temporal and spatial variability of water quality constituents. Until recently our capacity to measure, monitor, and evaluate water quality constituents in detail over ecologically relevant regions and time scales was limited. However, the recent development of a Surface Water Quality Mapping System (DATAFLOW) allows high speed, high resolution mapping of surface water quality from small vessels capable of sampling shoal and littoral areas. In addition, continuous measurements of water quality constituents can be taken from fixed, shallow water monitoring stations using YSI underwater datasondes to assess temporal variability and the new weekly and instantaneous criteria. The combined application of these two new technologies will allow the assessment of water quality criteria as well as an assessment of physical and biological processes controlling attainment or non-attainment. The map above illustrates the segments to be monitored, their designated uses and criteria parameters, and indicates if this project is expected to address these criteria.