Evaluation of Methods to Calculate a Wetlands Water Balance

摘要

The development of a workable appraoch to estimating mitigation site water budgetis a high priority for VDOT and the wetlands reserach and design community in general as they attempt to create successful mitigation sites. Additionally, correct soil physical, chemical and bilogical properties must be restored that are appropriate to the intended wetlands biota in order for the sites to function similar to the natural sites that they are replacing. The major objectives of this research program were to evaluate the currently recommended procedures for estimating wetland water balances and to characterize the soil and hydrologic regime present at natural and constructed sites and their interaction with wetlands biota. This report records our efforts to develop an estimated overall water budget at VDOTS's Ft. Lee mitigation site along with a summary of our previous water budget studies at Manasses. Detail on supporting studies is also provided along with an overall summary of multi-year research results and implications. In this report, the terms water balance and water budget are used almost interchangeably. In our view, however, water budgets are developed by humans to interpret actual wetland water balances.