Use of Best Management Practice Efficiency Estimates in Multi-Jurisdictional Water Quality Planning for the Chesapeake Bay
Thomas W. Simpson, University of Maryland and The World Bank Group Introduction The Chesapeake Bay is the largest and, historically, most productive estuary in the United States of America (USA). The Bay is long and narrow being about 250 km long and 25 to 50 km wide. The estuary is very shallow with an average depth of only 7 m, but it contains a narrow, deep trench up to 60 m deep that is the drowned river valley of the Susquehanna River. What is remarkable about the Chesapeake Bay is the very large size of its watershed to its relatively small water volume. The watershed is approximately 100,000 km square in size (Fig. 1). The Bay has a watershed area to water volume ratio of about 2400:1, which is six times greater than the estuary with the next largest watershed area to water volume ratio, The Bay of Finland.
Use of Best Management Practice Efficiency Estimates in Multi-Jurisdictional Water Quality Planning for the Chesapeake Bay.doc
