Development of a Water Quality Model for the Patuxent Estuary

Abstract

The Patuxent River (Figure 1) has been a major focal point for water quality management in Maryland for well over a decade. As the Baltimore and Washington, D.C. metropolitan areas encroached on the Patuxent watershed, long-time residents made policy-makers increasingly aware of the river’s declining vitality and called for a reversal of declining aquatic resources and negative water quality trends. Substantial controversy concerning the choice of the best water quality protection strategy for the Patuxent prevented much progress until a consensus was reached in December, 1981.