2022 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Virtual Conference

March 13 - 15, 2022

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5/26/2021 | 8:30 AM - 10:30 AM | Chesapeake legacies: The importance of legacy nitrogen to improving Chesapeake Bay water quality | Virtual Platform

Chesapeake legacies: The importance of legacy nitrogen to improving Chesapeake Bay water quality

In the Chesapeake Bay, excess N has for decades fueled algal growth, disrupted aquatic ecosystems, and negatively impacted coastal economies. Despite widespread implementation of measures and notable reductions in N inputs since 1980, water quality across the region has been slow to improve, which has in some cases been attributed to an accumulation of surplus N in subsurface reservoirs. Here, we use the ELEMeNT-N modeling framework to explore the role of legacy N in slowing reductions in N loading to the Bay, and to provide estimates of the time required to meet water quality goals in nine major tributary watersheds. Our results first show that recent improvements in water quality can be attributed to decreases in N surplus that began to occur in the 1970s and 1980s. Future simulations suggest that, even with no additional changes in current management practices, goals to reduce N loads by 25% can nearly be met within the next two decades. The present results also suggest that time lags to achieving water quality may vary considerably in the individual study watersheds, with the longest lag times being found in the highly agricultural Choptank watershed.

Biogeochemistry
Management
Land use

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Presenters/Authors

Shuyu Chang (), University of Illinois at Chicago, schang68@uic.edu;