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Quantifying groundwater storage dynamics in the Chesapeake Bay watershed (USA) using a large-scale integrated hydrologic model with detailed three-dimensional subsurface representation

Authors: Alimatou Seck and Claire Welty Published in February 2023

Expanding on current efforts to evaluate the role of groundwater dynamics in managing and restoring Chesapeake Bay (USA), the integrated hydrologic model ParFlow-CLM was applied to a 374,976-km² area encompassing the Chesapeake Bay watershed. The model included a representation of surface water, groundwater and land-surface energy fluxes with spatially variable atmospheric forcing at an hourly time step. The study tackled issues of data availability, access, assembly, and synthesis for estimating hydrogeologic properties in the context of the development of a large-scale model. Hydrogeologic properties from literature and other sources were assembled, processed, and synthesized to derive a conceptual hydrogeologic model consisting of 29 hydrofacies and a three-dimensional hydraulic conductivity field. Evaluation of the ParFlow-CLM model output showed that the constructed model captured seasonal and spatial variability in subsurface storage, surface storage and surface runoff, and produced water-table depths consistent with the topography, meteorological forcing, and hydrogeology. Comparison with well data from the US Geological Survey showed good agreement of model output with observed hydraulic heads for most of the data. Modeled terrestrial water storage changes compared well with GRACE satellite data with a root mean square error of 2.3 cm. Model results showed the dominant contribution of subsurface storage changes (90%) to terrestrial water storage changes in the region.

The publication is available on Springer Nature.

Considerations for Monitoring Microplastics in the Non-Tidal Potomac River

Authors: Christina C. Davis Published in September 2022

The Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin’s 2022 Clean Water Act Section 106 Potomac Basin Water Quality Improvement grant included an activity to “assist water suppliers in VA, MD, and DC in developing microplastic sampling and analysis methodologies and conduct field sample collection.” This white paper, which explores the feasibility of a microplastic monitoring program in the nontidal Potomac basin, represents the output for this activity. Section 2 describes considerations for collecting and processing samples for microplastics analysis. Section 3 provides a brief explanation of analytical methods and quality control recommendations for the detection, quantification, and identification of microplastics.

An Inventory of Potomac Basin Entities with a Role in Sustainable Water Resources Management

Authors: Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin Published in May 2022

This pamphlet is used in concert with a spreadsheet inventory to identify entities in the Potomac basin that either directly or indirectly affect the realization of the Potomac Basin Comprehensive Water Resource Plan’s vision for the basin. It also summarizes the roles, responsibilities, and areas of authority of those entities to inform and integrate future comprehensive planning and implementation activities.

Edited to add: Click here for an updated version of this pamphlet was published in March, 2025.

Considerations for Benthic Harmful Algal Bloom Detection and Monitoring in Virginia Free-flowing Freshwater Rivers (Version 1)

Authors: Gordon Michael Selckmann, Charles O’Brien, Claire Buchanan, and Rikke Jepsen | Pub: # ICP22-3 | Published in July 2022

The Commonwealth of Virginia currently does not have an active Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB) surveillance program for benthic algae. Rather, it has a response-based program triggered by reports of suspected benthic HABs from the public and/or field observations made by state agency staff. The Virginia Department of Health (VDH) coordinates the Commonwealth’s responses to suspected benthic HAB events. Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) normally conducts the initial response to any potential HAB, which may include visits to the HAB site for visual observations and collection of water column samples above or near the benthic algal mats. DEQ does not collect algal material from solid mats, benthic or floating, and has limited resources to commit beyond the initial response investigation of reported potential HABs. VDH is charged with the responsibility to weigh the available evidence and determine whether there is sufficient information to issue an advisory or alert notifying the public of possible risk due to the presence of harmful algae.

Advisories may be issued based on confirmed, quantitative data such as an exceedance of a toxin threshold measured in the water column. Alerts may be based, partially or fully, on qualitative information such as the widespread presence, or suspected presence, and extent of solid floating/benthic mats or scums. The subsequent benthic HAB response monitoring program must therefore consider protocols to be implemented in both circumstances, i.e., an advisory based on confirmed, quantitative measurements versus a qualitative “abundance of caution” alert informing the public of a possible health risk.

This project report describes systematic protocols that could be implemented if an advisory or alert is issued by VDH for a benthic HAB event. The report identifies the information needed to issue an advisory or alert, the recommended actions, an effective schedule of activities, and the resources needed to characterize the nature and extent of the HAB and implement the protocols. The suggested monitoring program considers the conditions and information that led to the HAB advisory or alert. The report describes how decision-makers are informed of the health risks associated with recreational swimming, fishing, and other water contact activities.

An Analysis of Pooled Monitoring Data in Maryland to Evaluate the Effects of Restoration on Stream Quality in Urbanized Watersheds. Final report

Authors: Rikke Jepsen, Claire Buchanan, Andrea Nagel, Deb Caraco, Lisa Fraley-McNeal | Pub: # ICP 22-1 | Published in May 2022

The project examined whether stormwater management practices implemented under MS4 permits can lead to measurable differences in stream conditions compared to similar watersheds with few or no stormwater practices and to highly forested reference watersheds.

Copies of Appendix A and Appendix B are available online.

Potomac Environmental Flows Workshop 2022

Authors: , , , , | Pub: # ICP22-4 | Published in July 2022

In 2021, Commissioners of the Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin (ICPRB) passed a Resolution on Enhancing Water Supply Resilience for the Washington Metropolitan Area. This resolution is the first step in updating the two foundational agreements of the Washington metropolitan area cooperative water supply system: the Low Flow Allocation Agreement (LFAA) of 1978 and the Water Supply Coordination Agreement (WSCA) of 1982. To facilitate such an update the resolution called for the following action items:

Develop a Task Force on the WSCA to reinitiate dialogue on revisions that would accurately reflect changing conditions. This includes the need for strengthening water security against spills, cybersecurity attack, and water scarcity and the ability to include additional suppliers;
Convene a Work Group to discuss the ten sets of options identified in the 2018 review of the LFAA; and
Convene scientific workshops on state-of-the-art approaches to environmental flows for large river systems.

To address the third action item, a virtual workshop was held over one-and-a-half days in May 2022, with the explicit purpose of answering the following questions with respect to the Potomac River, which supplies most of the Washington, D. C., metropolitan area drinking water:

Are there other approaches now for determining environmental flows in large, relatively unregulated rivers like the Potomac?
If there are, what data, analysis tools, and assessments are needed to make a scientifically defensible change?

The information presented and discussed during the workshop provides input to the LFAA workgroup in the event the group recommends revisiting the current environmental flow-by target used during low flow periods. The question of whether or not to study the flow-by was informally discussed during the workshop but the intent of the workshop was to gather the relevant information, not recommend a course of action.

Potomac Basin Reported Water Use

Authors: Heidi Moltz, Andrea Nagel, Stephanie Nummer Published in August 2022

In accordance with one of the technical recommendations of the Potomac Basin Comprehensive Water Resources Plan’s water use and supplies challenge area, this pamphlet has been produced to document and share high-level results. This pamphlet provides a “report on basin-wise water uses,” and ultimately acts as a first step toward estimating, “projected demands and consumptive demands.”

Improving probabilistic monthly water quantity and quality predictions using a simplified residual-based modeling approach

Authors: Tian Guoa, Yaoze Liub, Gang Shao, Bernard A. Engel, Ashish Sharma, Lucy A. Marshall, Dennis C. Flanagan Raj Cibin, Carlington W. Wallace, Kaiguang Zhao, Dongyang Ren, Johann Vera Mercado, Mohamed A. Aboelnour Published in October 2022

Uncertainty quantification between simulated and observed water quality simulations needs to be improved. This study generated and evaluated probabilistic hydrologic and water quality predictions in 18 locations across the U.S. using residual-based modeling. A Box-Cox transformation scheme group provided the best predictive uncertainties for all case studies. The tradeoffs in the performance metrics for a single variable predictive uncertainty in a single study watershed were more obvious than those for all hydrologic or water quality cases. Compared to a single realization of simulations, the ensemble average of hydrologic and water quality simulations better represented the predictive uncertainty, especially for large watersheds. This study recommends various opportunities via residual error scheme selection, data monitoring improvement, and hydrologic model enhancement to robust hydrologic and water quality predictive uncertainties. The results could improve the quantification of the predictive uncertainty of hydrologic and water quality simulations and guide probabilistic prediction enhancement.

More information about the paper is available on ScienceDirect.com.

Explainable machine learning improves interpretability in the predictive modeling of biological stream conditions in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, USA

Authors: Kelly O. Maloney, Claire Buchanan, Rikke D. Jepsen, Kevin P. Krause, Matthew J. Cashman, Benjamin P. Gressler, John A. Young, Matthias Schmid Published in November 2022

Anthropogenic alterations have resulted in widespread degradation of stream conditions. To aid in stream restoration and management, baseline estimates of conditions and improved explanation of factors driving their degradation are needed. We used random forests to model biological conditions using a benthic macroinvertebrate index of biotic integrity for small, non-tidal streams (upstream area ≤200 km2) in the Chesapeake Bay watershed (CBW) of the mid-Atlantic coast of North America. We utilized several global and local model interpretation tools to improve average and site-specific model inferences, respectively. The model was used to predict condition for 95,867 individual catchments for eight periods (2001, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2011, 2013, 2016, 2019). Predicted conditions were classified as Poor, FairGood, or Uncertain to align with management needs and individual reach lengths and catchment areas were summed by condition class for the CBW for each period. Global permutation and local Shapley importance values indicated percent of forest, development, and agriculture in upstream catchments had strong impacts on predictions. Development and agriculture negatively influenced stream condition for model average (partial dependence [PD] and accumulated local effect [ALE] plots) and local (individual condition expectation and Shapley value plots) levels. Friedman’s H-statistic indicated large overall interactions for these three land covers, and bivariate global plots (PD and ALE) supported interactions among agriculture and development. Total stream length and catchment area predicted in FairGood conditions decreased then increased over the 19-years (length/area: 66.6/65.4% in 2001, 66.3/65.2% in 2011, and 66.6/65.4% in 2019). Examination of individual catchment predictions between 2001 and 2019 showed those predicted to have the largest decreases in condition had large increases in development; whereas catchments predicted to exhibit the largest increases in condition showed moderate increases in forest cover. Use of global and local interpretative methods together with watershed-wide and individual catchment predictions support conservation practitioners that need to identify widespread and localized patterns, especially acknowledging that management actions typically take place at individual-reach scales.

Find more information on the ScienceDirect page.

Nutrient limitation of phytoplankton in three tributaries of Chesapeake Bay: Detecting responses following nutrient reductions

Authors: , , , , Published in September 2022

ABSTRACT: Many coastal ecosystems suffer from eutrophication, algal blooms, and dead zones due to excessive anthropogenic inputs of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P). This has led to regional restoration efforts that focus on managing watershed loads of N and P. In Chesapeake Bay, the largest estuary in the United States, dual nutrient reductions of N and P have been pursued since the 1980s. However, it remains unclear whether nutrient limitation – an indicator of restriction of algal growth by supplies of N and P – has changed in the tributaries of Chesapeake Bay following decades of reduction efforts. Toward that end, we analyzed historical data from nutrient-addition bioassay experiments and data from the Chesapeake Bay Long-term Water Quality Monitoring Program for six stations in three tidal tributaries (i.e., Patuxent, Potomac, and Choptank Rivers). Classification and regression tree (CART) models were developed using concurrent collections of water-quality parameters for each bioassay monitoring location during 1990-2003, which satisfactorily predicted the bioassay-based measures of nutrient limitation (classification accuracy = 96%). Predictions from the CART models using water-quality monitoring data showed enhanced nutrient limitation over the period of 1985-2020 at four of the six stations, including the downstream station in each of these three tidal tributaries. These results indicate detectable, long-term water-quality improvements in the tidal tributaries. Overall, this research provides a new analytical tool for detecting signs of ecosystem recovery following nutrient reductions. More broadly, the approach can be adapted to other waterbodies with long-term bioassays and water-quality data sets to detect ecosystem recovery.

See more on the ScienceDirect page.