Choptank River Basin

Overall, the Choptank River had good benthic community condition during the 1999-2003 period.  However, some degradation was noted in the mesohaline portion of the estuary.  About 50% of the sites sampled in the mesohaline region failed to meet the benthic community Restoration Goals (B-IBI < 3.0).  Half of these samples were only mildly degraded, resulting in a relatively low probability of observing degraded benthos (Table 1).  A long-term monitoring station in the lower mesohaline Choptank River indicated good benthic community condition and no significant trend in the B-IBI (station 064 on map).  Degraded sites in the upper mesohaline portion of the river were located around the Cabin Creek area.  Some of these sites exhibited excess abundance of organisms, which is usually associated with over-enrichment.  This is consistent with Water Quality Monitoring Program observations of poor water quality and degrading trends in nitrogen and algal concentrations in this region of the river.  Dissolved oxygen conditions at the time of the benthic sampling were good throughout the river.  A long-term monitoring station in the upper oligohaline Choptank River indicated marginally degraded benthos with no significant trend in the B-IBI (station 066 on map).

We're working on the following...Please visit again to see the results
Water Quality Map
Segment Analysis

Benthic community condition for Choptank River Basin sites.
Red = Severely Degraded; Black = Degraded;
Violet = Marginal; Green = Meets Goals
All sites sampled to date (1994-2003) shown.