Water Quality Conditions in the Tidal Rappahannock River: Longitudinal and Dome Surveys in 1993

Previous field surveys and modeling studies (Kuo et al. 1991; Park et al. 1993) indicated the presence of three different water quality regimes in the tidal Rappahannock River (Fig. 1), a western shore tributary of Chesapeake Bay: : Region I - hypoxic conditions during summer in the bottom water between km 0-55 : Region II - high chlorophyll concentration between km 80-147 : Region III - waste water discharges from sewage treatment plants To study the differences among these 3 reaches of the river, two types of field surveys were conducted during the summer of 1993: 1) longitudinal surveys in Region III and 2) benthic flux surveys using domes in Region I and II. This data report describes these field surveys and presents the data collected from them, consisting of two parts: Part I for longitudinal surveys and Part II for dome surveys. The analysis of the data will be presented in another special report

Hypoxia in the Lower Rappahannock Estuary

There are several objectives to this study. The immediate objective is to collect a comprehensive and consistent set of field observations to better describe the hypoxic condition in the Rappahannock River. Other objectives can be classified as short and long term goals. Long term: (1) Identify and quantify the processes contributing to the dissolved oxygen budget in deep waters, and explain the variabilities among the three Virginia major tributary estuaries. (2) Provide information for resource management so that the James River can be protected from hypoxic problems and, perhaps, the problems in the York and Rappahannock Rivers can be alleviated. Short term: (1) Is the hypoxic condition in the Rappahannock River just an extension of that in Chesapeake Bay, or does it originate locally within the river

Water Quality in a Small Tidal Creek: Parker Creek, Virginia

Parker Creek is a branched tidal creek located on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. In its southern branch, the creek receives waste inputs from a poultry processing plant. A study has been conducted to determine the effects of these inputs and to formulate a mathematical model of the creek system suitable for water quality planning. The model and field studies show the creek may be divided into two zones, an upstream zone dominated by freshwater flows and waste inputs, and a downstream zone dominated by conditions in adjacent Metomkin Bay. In the upstream zone of the waste-receiving branch, conditions of elevated nutrient and depressed dissolved oxygen concentrations exist. In the downstream zone, conditions are close to natural. For purposes of comparison, surveys were conducted in three similar non-impacted tidal creeks and in Metornkin Bay. From a planning standpoint, the most significant result of these surveys is that violations of minimum dissolved oxygen standards may occur as a natural condition in tidal creeks