Workshop Publications

The objectives of the workshop were to provide the CBP with a better understanding of the factors affecting the “lag time” associated with improving water quality and SAV in the Bay and provide recommendations for improved monitoring and modeling of these factors. Results from the workshop suggest that “lag times” associated with implementation of management practices, impacts of watershed properties, and response of the Bay water quality will make it very difficult to meet water-quality criteria in the Bay by 2010. Additionally, there are lag times associated with the movement of nutrients and sediment in the watershed. These include the influence of ground water which may cause a lag time from months to decades for improvement in nitrogen concentrations. Watershed properties affecting the storage and transport of phosphorus and sediment may cause lag times of years to decades in water-quality improvements. Lag times in the tidal waters appear to be much shorter. The findings suggest that water-quality conditions in tidal waters may improve within a season as nutrient and sediment loadings are reduced to the Bay.