What are the boundaries of the Chesapeake Bay watershed?

What are the boundaries of the Chesapeake Bay watershed?

The Chesapeake Bay watershed, or draingage basin, encompasses six states – New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland, Deleware, Virginia, and the District of Columbia.

Where is the watershed in Chesapeake Bay?

The Chesapeake Bay watershed (drainage basin) extends about five hundred miles south from the headwaters of Otsego Lake, near Cooperstown, New York to the Atlantic Ocean and Suffolk, Virginia. It extends east from mountain streams near Blacksburg, Virginia to Berlin, Maryland (near Ocean City).

Who monitors the Chesapeake Bay?

The USGS, in cooperation with CBP partners, monitors streamflow, nutrients, and sediment as part of the CBP Watershed Water-Quality Monitoring Network. The network includes 85 monitoring sites in each of the major river basins draining to the Bay (see map below).

What makes the Chesapeake Bay watershed a watershed?

The Chesapeake Bay Watershed The Bay and the rivers and streams that feed it make up an impressive watershed, which: contains more than 100,000 rivers and streams; has a 14:1 land-to-water ratio; helps filter and protect the drinking water of 75 percent of Bay watershed residents through its forests and trees.

Are there sharks in the Chesapeake Bay?

According to the Chesapeake Bay Program, there are at least 12 species of sharks found in the Bay. While some are quite abundant, others are very rare. The five most common sharks in the Bay include the sandbar shark, bull shark, sand tiger shark, smooth dogfish, and spiney dogfish.

Which river is part of the Chesapeake Bay watershed?

Major rivers that empty into the Bay include the James, York, Rappahannock, Potomac, Patuxent, Patapsco, and Susquehanna from the west and the Pocomoke, Wicomico, Nanticoke, Choptank, and Chester from the east.

Do I live in the Chesapeake Bay watershed?

The Chesapeake Bay watershed spans more than 64,000 square miles, encompassing parts of six states—Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia—and the entire District of Columbia. More than 18 million people live in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

What are the 6 states in the Chesapeake Bay watershed?

The Chesapeake Bay watershed stretches from Cooperstown, New York, to Norfolk, Virginia, and includes parts of six states—Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia—and the entire District of Columbia.

What is polluting the Chesapeake Bay?

The three most common chemical contaminants that are polluting the Chesapeake Bay airshed include mercury, polychlorinated biphenyls (or PCBs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (or PAHs): Mercury is a toxic metal that is released into the air when coal, oil, natural gas and hazardous materials are burned.

How are human impacts affecting the Chesapeake Bay?

Unfortunately, the Chesapeake Bay faces serious problems due to human activities, including polluted stormwater runoff, over-fertilization and pollution from animal wastes, deforestation, wetland destruction from agricultural, urban, and suburban development, and sea level rise caused by global climate change.

What are the 3 main watersheds in Virginia?

Virginia rivers also are part of three major watersheds of North America: The Chesapeake Bay, the North Carolina Sounds, and the Mississippi River.

Is it safe to swim in Chesapeake Bay 2019?

Local health departments suggest refraining from swimming until 48 hours after heavy rainstorms, which often flood waterways with bacteria from runoff and untreated sewage. You also might want to forgo that swim if you have an open cut, an ear infection, or a compromised immune system.

What is the Chesapeake Bay watershed data dashboard?

The Watershed Data Dashboard is a visualization tool to consolidate and provide accessibility to Chesapeake Bay watershed monitoring, modeling, trends, projections and explanations for use in watershed management planning and implementation.

Where can I find data on Chesapeake Bay?

This website provides information on the water quality loads and trends at the nontidal monitoring stations in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. The Chesapeake Bay has an Open Data Portal with spatial information about BMPs, habitat and much, much more.This is also where you can go to download the CAST delivery factors already mapped.

Where can I find HUCs data for Chesapeake Bay?

HUCs spatial data are available for download through this USGS website. This dataset includes the boundaries of the 11 hydrogeomorhpic regions in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. This dataset is maintained and created by the Chesapeake Bay Program.

How does the Chesapeake Bay affect the environment?

The Chesapeake Bay watershed continues to develop as population in the region grows. Development and urbanization at the cost of natural landscapes can lead to increased pollution of nutrients and sediment to the Bay, especially from stormwater runoff.