Trends in Phosphorus, Nitrogen, Secchi Depth, and Dissolved Oxygen in ChesapeakeBay, 1984 to 1992

摘要

The Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP) is a Federal-State partnership working torestore Chesapeake Bay. One of its main goals is to improve water quality conditions for living resources. The CBP started ambient water quality monitoring programs for Chesapeake Bay in 1984 to characterize current water quality, to assess trends in water quality over time, and to increase understanding of linkages between water quality and living resources. Nutrient enrichment is a major water quality problem in Chesapeake Bay. Spring and summer phytoplankton blooms, fueled by high nutrient levels, cause low dissolved oxygen (DO) levels in the summer when the plankton die and decompose. Low concentrations of DO can be lethal to Chesapeake Bay's aquatic animals. Both point source and nonpoint source reductions of nitrogen and phosphorus loads to Chesapeake Bay have been achieved since 1985.