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WARE RIVER INTENSIVE WATERSHED STUDY - 2. ESTUARINE RECEIVING WATER QUALITY
Citation:
Bosco, C., G. Anderson, AND B. Neilson. WARE RIVER INTENSIVE WATERSHED STUDY - 2. ESTUARINE RECEIVING WATER QUALITY. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/3-83/078B.
Description:
The Ware River is a relatively 'clean' estuarine system. However, during summer months some of the nutrients, particularly inorganic phosphorus and organic nitrogen, achieve levels associated with moderate enrichment. The Ware is typical of other small tributaries of Chesapeake Bay: nutrient levels are higher at low tide, the estuary is more homogeneous laterally than longitudinally, and vertical gradients exist for dissolved oxygen, total phosphorus, and suspended solids. The estuary is generally phosphorus limited, except during the annual spring phytoplankton blooms (April 1979 and March 1980) when uptake of inorganic nitrogen by plankton causes the system to be nitrogen limited. Impacts of nonpoint source pollution are slight and shortlived in the estuary. This appears to be due to dilution by Bay waters and sedimentation in the upstream marshes.