Ambient Water Quality Criteria for Dissolved Oxygen, Water Clarity and Chlorophyll 'a' for the Chesapeake Bay and Its Tidal Tributaries: 2008 Technical Support for Criteria Assessment Protocols Addendum

摘要

Since the signing of the multijurisdicational Chesapeake 2000 agreement, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in cooperation with its six watershed State partners and the District of Columbia, has developed a series of water quality criteria guidance documents in accordance with Section 117b of the Clean Water Act. Chesapeake Bay regional water quality criteria were developed and adopted into state water quality standards regulations protective of living resources and their habitats. Five aquatic life tidal-water designated uses were defined by the partners (U.S. EPA 2003a) apportioning the Chesapeake Bay and its tidal tributaries into appropriate habitats: Migratory fish spawning and nursery habitat; Open water fish and shellfish habitat; Deep-water seasonal fish and shellfish habitat; Deep-channel seasonal refuge habitat; and Shallow-water Bay grass habitat. This document represents the fifth formal addendum to the 2003 Chesapeake Bay water quality criteria document; as such readers should regard the sections in this document as new or replacement chapters and appendices to the original published report. The criteria assessment procedures published in this addendum also replace and otherwise supersede similar criteria assessment procedures originally published in the 2003 Regional Criteria Guidance and the 2004 and 2007 addenda (U.S. EPA 2003a, 2004a, 2007a, b). Publication of future addendums by EPA on behalf of the Chesapeake Bay Program watershed jurisdictional partners is likely as continued scientific research and management applications reveal new insights and knowledge that should be incorporated into revisions of state water quality standards regulations in upcoming triennial reviews.