Water Quality Analysis of Eutrophication for the Patuxent River Upper Watershed, Anne Arundel, Prince George's, and Howard Counties, Maryland.

摘要

Section 303(d) of the federal Clean Water Act (CWA) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)s implementing regulations direct each state to identify and list waters, known as water quality limited segments (WQLSs), in which current required controls of a specified substance are inadequate to achieve water quality standards. This list of impaired waters is commonly referred to as the 303(d) list. For each WQLS, the state is to either establish a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) of the specified substance that the waterbody can receive without violating water quality standards, or demonstrate that water quality standards are being met. The Patuxent River Upper watershed (basin code 02131104) was identified on the States 1996 list of WQLSs as impaired by nutrients (1996), sediments (1996) and impacts to biological communities (2002). In 2004, an impoundment within the watershed, Cash Lake, was listed as impaired for mercury. This document, upon EPA approval, addresses the nutrient impairment in the non-tidal portion of the Patuxent River Upper watershed. Other impairments within the basin will be addressed at a future date.