Water quality in Chesapeake Bay : Virginia portion, water year 1985 : a report to the Virginia Water Control Board

The purpose of this report is to characterize water quality conditions during the 1985 water year, October 1984 through September 1985. For the most part, the information is provided in graphical format. Only data for the Virginia portion of Chesapeake Bay is included. No data analysis or interpretation is included, since this is the stated purpose of a number of other reports. We believe that the report will be useful to both scientists and managers who need ready access to some portion of the data on a regular basis. With this report one could, for example, quickly examine seasonal patterns, compare conditions at two stations, or see if surface and bottom conditions differed significantly. Trends, inter-annual variations and other important considerations are treated in other reports

Water quality in Chesapeake Bay : Virginia portion, water year 1991 : a report to the Virginia Water Control Board

The purpose of this report is to characterize water quality conditions during the 1991 water year, October 1990 through September 1991. Most information is provided in graphical format and only data for the Virginia portion of Chesapeake Bay is included. No interpretation is included, since data analysis is the stated purpose of several other reports. This report and companion data reports provide to both scientists and managers ready access to a portion of the data. It is possible, for example, to quickly examine seasonal patterns, compare conditions at two stations, or see if surface and bottom conditions differ significantly. Trends, inter-annual variations and other important considerations are treated in other reports

Influence of Nutrient Contamination on Macroinvertebrate Communities in Two Tidal Freshwater Creeks

Freshwater ecosystems are some of the most biodiverse on the planet, but they are threatened due to human actions resulting in habitat loss, pollution, and nutrient runoff. Macroinvertebrates can be used to measure the health of a freshwater system because different taxa have different tolerances to pollutants. However, the relationship between nutrient runoff and macroinvertebrates remains understudied. Accokeek Creek and Aquia Creek are two tidal freshwater streams in Stafford, VA. Accokeek Creeks drains a watershed containing the Crow’s Nest Natural Area Preserve and minimal development. Aquia Creek’s watershed is largely suburban. The objectives of this study were a) to examine differences in macroinvertebrate diversity between Accokeek and Aquia Creeks and b) to investigate the relationship between nutrient concentration and macroinvertebrate community assemblage. Because we expected nutrient levels to be higher in Aquia Creek, we hypothesized that Accokeek Creek would have higher macroinvertebrate biodiversity than Aquia Creek. In late spring 2021, habitat data and three macroinvertebrate samples were taken from six Accokeek sites and four Aquia sites. Two water samples and one sediment sample were collected from each Accokeek and Aquia site for nitrogen and phosphorus testing. A total of 1,874 macroinvertebrates across 25 taxa were identified with the most common taxa being Oligochaeta (n=954), Chironomidae (n=314), and Hydrobiidae (n=191). Shannon Diversity was significantly higher in Aquia Creek (1.418±0.096 mean±SE, n=10) than in Accokeek Creek (0.939±0.099, t(20)= -3.4, p=0.003, n=12). Orthophosphate levels were significantly higher in Aquia Creek (0.154mg/L±0.012) than in Accokeek Creek (0.065mg/L±0.008), t(20)= -6.3, p\u3c0.0001). Based on these results, our hypothesis was not supported. A positive relationship was found between orthophosphate level and Shannon Diversity [R2 =0.25, p=0.0104], which may be explained by increased vegetation associated with elevated orthophosphate levels. Further analysis will be done to examine the relationship between biodiversity and nutrient levels in the late summer months

Water quality in Chesapeake Bay : Virginia portion, water year 1989 : a report to the Virginia Water Control Board

The purpose of this report is to characterize water quality conditions during the 1909 water year, October 1988 through September 1989. For the most part, the information is provided in graphical format. Only data for the Virginia portion of Chesapeake Bay is included. No data analysis or interpretation i:s included, since this is the stated purpose of a number of other reports a. We believe that the report will be useful to both scientists and managers who need ready access to some portion of the data on a regular basis. With this report one could, for example, quickly examine seasonal patterns, compare conditions at two stations, or see if surface and bottom conditions differed significantly. Trends, inter-annual variations and other important considerations are treated in other reports

Water quality in Chesapeake Bay : Virginia portion, water year 1993 : a report to the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality

The Chesapeake Bay Water Quality Monitoring Program (WQMP) has three main objectives: (1) characterization of water quality conditions, (2) detection of temporal and spatial trends in water quality, and (3) creation of a data base that furthers our understanding of the processes that control water quality in the Chesapeake Bay system. The purpose of this report is to characterize water quality conditions in the Virginia portion of Chesapeake Bay during the 1993 water year, which runs from October 1992 through September 1993. These monitoring efforts have been conducted with funding from the US Environmental Protection Agency and the Commonwealth of Virginia