Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2015MD329B

Retrospective Analysis of Nutrient and Sediment Loadings and Trends in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed (Graduate Fellowship)

Institute: Maryland
Year Established: 2015 Start Date: 2015-06-01 End Date: 2015-08-30
Total Federal Funds: $6,000 Total Non-Federal Funds: $12,000

Principal Investigators: Kaye Brubaker, William Ball

Project Summary: Management programs have focused on reducing nutrient and sediment loads from the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. To estimate riverine loadings and trends, USGS has developed the WRTDS method (Weighted Regressions on Time, Discharge, and Season). Centered on WRTDS, my research contains three main objectives: (1) to apply WRTDS to evaluate long-term seasonal trends of riverine loadings from the Bay watershed and identify their linkages to source inputs; (2) to improve WRTDS prediction using flow-anomalies as additional model variables; and (3) to quantify uncertainties of water-quality trends estimated by WRTDS and other methods. All three topics can inform water-resources managers towards decision-making.