Design of TMDL Development Tools to Account for the Natural Characteristics of Southeast U.S. Darkwater River Estuaries, 2000 Environmental Conference Proceedings

- J. Hendrickson, D. Campbell -- River estuaries of the southeast U.S. and elsewhere have with increasing frequency exhibited the symptoms of eutrophication, which includes increased algal organic matter loading and associated low dissolved oxygen events, loss of water column transparency leading to decline in submerged grasses, and increased incidence of potentially toxic algal species. Typically, these are overlain upon and exacerbate the normal stressors existing in the transitional estuarine environment, making the separation of anthropogenic and natural causes difficult. In the case of darkwater rivers of the southeast U.S., this involves accounting for and distinguishing between the characteristics of the naturally abundant dissolved organic matter of swamp and flatwoods runoff, point source and nonpoint source pollutants, with respect to decomposition (which controls oxygen demand and organic nutrient regeneration rates) and water column light availability.