Using a Linked Receiving Water and Watershed Modeling System to Support Management of Bacterial Sources for Poquoson River Basin in the Chesapeake Bay

Poquoson River, a coastal embayment in the Chesapeake Bay, is impaired due to elevated bacterial levels. In order to support the management of bacterial sources in the drainage areas of the coastal embayment to protect water quality for the public health, an innovative source assessment and modeling system is developed and used to address a variety of case-specific requirements related to water quality criteria, water use designations, source pollution transport, and establishment of assimilative capacities for the coastal embayment. A case study of applying the modeling tool in the Poquoson River watershed is presented to demonstrate the feasibility of simulating fecal coliform distribution in the embayment and the capability of using the modeling approach to support management needs.