7/8/2014, ARS Project: Assessment of Natural Resource Conservation Practice Effectiveness Within the Choptank River Watershed (408915) Annual Report

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Research Project: Assessment of Natural Resource
Conservation Practice Effectiveness Within the Choptank
River Watershed

Location: Hydrology and Remote Sensing Laboratory
2006 Annual Report

4d.Progress report.
This report serves to document research conducted under an
Interagency Reimbursable Agreement between the ARS-Hydrology and

Remote Sensing Laboratory and USDA Natural Resource Conservation
Service. Additional details of research can be found in the report for
the parent project 1265-12130-002-00D entitled, "ASSESSING
CLIMATE, SOIL AND LANDSCAPE PROCESSES AFFECTING
AGRICULTURAL ECOSYSTEMS and SCA 1265-12130-002-05S
“EVALUATION OF CONSERVATION PRACTICE EFFECTIVENESS IN WATER
QUALITY PROTECTION IN THE CHOPTANK RIVER WATERSHED" The
NRCS Choptank Special Emphasis CEAP Watershed project has been
coordinated with the national Cross Location Project (CLP) CEAP project
that includes the original 12 benchmark ARS watersheds. The
Choptank watershed complements this national network of watersheds
in that it is the only tidal estuary under study within the CEAP effort.
Within the Choptank watershed project, we are developing efficient
monitoring technologies that can be used operationally for
assessment of the parameters within the cover crop program. Such
information can then be used by program managers to optimize
implementation of cover crops in the Chesapeake Bay region. It can
also be used by better parameterize water quality models. An
important objective of the Choptank watershed project is water quality
modeling to assess the effectiveness of Best Management Practices
(BMPs) for improved quality of water draining from the watershed into
the Chesapeake Bay. Under this project, Geographic Information
System (GIS) data layers have been developed for landuse
information, derived from digital ortho quarter quads (DOQQ), and
current BMP implementation, obtained from county conservation
offices. These data layers provide input to the water quality models.
This effort has resulted in successful calibration of AnnAGNPS using
historic data from the German Branch sub-watershed located in the
Tuckahoe subbasin within the Choptank watershed. A validation
dataset for German Branch provided an R squared of 0.6. Data being
collected on German Branch as well as 14 other sub-watersheds within
the Tuckahoe sub-basin under this project will provide data for
validating simulation runs of the model testing different scenarios of
BMP implementation for improved water quality. Initial simulation runs
for BMP implementation have performed out using the German Branch
landuse/BMP data layers. Under the SCA with Horn Point
Environmental Laboratory, assessment of current impacts of
agricultural Best Management Practices (BMPs) on water quality were
performed by monitoring stream water exiting from 15 subwatersheds
within the Tuckahoe Creek sub-basin of the Choptank watershed.
These water samples were been analyzed for nutrient and pesticide
content with data compiled. Select storm flow events have also been
sampled and analyzed for water quality. The depth of water in each
stream have been continuously monitored and data logged and
development of rating curves for each stream is in progress based on
water flux measurements at different stages of stream. A series of
significant storm events during the year have provided good
opportunity to establish rating curves by use of an Acoustic Stream
Channel Profiler. This effort will continue into FY 2007. In coordination
with the stream base flow sampling, water samples were collected in
the main channel of the Choptank River at 5 transect locations. These
data collection efforts will provide validation data for the AnnAGNPS
and SWAT water quality models.

Last Modified: 09/30/2007

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Project Team
McCarty, Gregory
Sadeghi, Ali
Hapeman, Cathleen
Rice, Clifford
McConnell, Laura

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FY 2006
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71812014 ARS Project: Assessment of Natural Resource Conservation Practice Effectiveness Within the Choptank River Watershed (408915) Annual Report
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