Research Areas > Nutrients > Nutrient Criteria Support Studies
Research Area: Science to Support Nutrient Criteria Development in Estuaries
Typically, waterbodies in the US have designated beneficial uses ranging from human uses, such as recreational boating and agricultural water supply, to environmental uses, such as wildlife habitat. Because nutrient over-enrichment is a common cause of beneficial-use impairment, criteria (standards) are needed to help identify impaired waterbodies and determine the need for appropriate remedial action. To link such criteria to nutrient loads and management strategies for eutrophication control, support tools are also needed.
SCCWRP Research
SCCWRP is leading a series of research activities to support the development of consistent statewide criteria, establish a clear link between science-based criteria and impacted beneficial uses, and provide regionally-specific data to improve the performance of models linking criteria to nutrient loads. These models can be used to determine Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) restriction necessary to minimize potential for impairment. TMDLs calculate the maximum amount of a pollutant, in this case nutrients, that a water body can receive and still meet water quality standards.
Examples of California estuarine habitats for which NNEs will be developed.
SCCWRP research to assist managers in the development of Nutrient Numeric Endpoints (NNEs) and TMDL tools for California estuaries is based on two fundamental principles:
• Using nutrient concentrations alone to diagnose eutrophication is less effective than use of biological response indicators (e.g., dissolved oxygen, algae, or invertebrate communities), which provide a more direct linkage to beneficial uses.
• A “weight of evidence” approach that uses multiple indicators rather than a single indicator will produce NNEs with greater scientific validity.
SCCWRP research projects to support NNE and TMDL tool development include:
This page was last updated on: 8/18/2011