Urban Stormwater Sediment: Sources, Impacts and Control

Sediment has long been recognized as a major water quality problem in the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. The Bay agreement, Chesapeake 2000 (C2K) identifies sediment as a major source of impaired water quality, comparable with nutrients. Impacts from sediment include loss of riparian and streambed habitat, turbidity that prevents or impedes the growth of underwater grasses and conveyance of toxic chemicals and other pollutants that impair water quality. Sediment associated with urban stormwater is a significant part of that problem. Urban stormwater causes streambank erosion, erosion from construction sites, resuspension of previously deposited (‘legacy’) sediment and carries suspended solids from urban areas. Monitoring and modeling information are not sufficiently developed to systematically document the scope and impact of the sediment problems in the Bay watershed. The workshop will blend science, technology and management.? It will bring together experts to document the current state of knowledge and identify priorities and recommendations for advancing scientific knowledge, improving monitoring and modeling and improving technology and management practices.