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WET WEATHER MONITORING FOR NONPOINT SOURCE EVALUATION IN THE ST. LOUIS BAY WATERSHED
Citation:
Impact/Purpose:
The objective of the proposed work is to conduct a wet-weather monitoring program in the St. Louis Bay Watershed (SLB). Results from this study will be used by the States and their agents in TMDL development for the watershed and to quantify pollutant loads. The proposed work is in compliance with requirements under Section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act and will aid in demonstrating benefits and effectiveness of selected best management practices (BMPs) as required under Section 319. In addition to collecting data to support the development of TMDLs, data will be collected to measure success of ongoing management activities. These data will be used by resource managers and will reduce uncertainty regarding effectiveness of nonpoint source BMPs and point source controls.
Description:
The St.. Louis Bay (SLB) watershed comprises the western portion of the Mississippi coastal basin (cataloging unit 0317009). St. Louis Bay and several of its tributaries are highly ranked on the 1998 List of Waterbodies in Mississippi which show impairment and for which total maximum daily loads (TMDLs) for fecal coliforms are required. The land use distribution of the SLB watershed is approximately 76% forest land, 16% agricultural land, and 2% each of water, wetland, and barren land. Wet weather monitoring is needed to characterize the quantity and quality of the runoff at different locations in the watershed. The data collected will support development of modeling parameters, source characterization, and model refinement. The wet-weather monitoring program will include installation and maintenance of monitoring equipment, sample collection and analysis, and data processing and management at eighteen monitoring stations.