Chesapeake Bay - Reporting Region Summary:

Scores & Conceptual Diagram

Bay Health Index 24% D- Patuxent River: 2010 Poor ecosystem health. No improvement in overall health of this region. While water quality indicators declined, phytoplankton and benthic communities improved. Water quality: All three indicators declined in 2010. Chlorophyll a and water clarity scores were both very poor, scoring 6% and 5%, respectively. The chlorophyll a score is the lowest seen during the entire period of record. Dissolved oxygen scores declined slightly following four previous years of improvement, but were still moderately good. Biotic indicators: Phytoplankton community condition scores increased to 28% in 2010, which, while still poor, is the highest since 1992. Benthic community condition scores also increased, but are also still in poor condition. Aquatic grasses remained very poor, which is consistent with scores from the entire period of record.

	Index/Indicator	Score			Index/Indicator	Score
	Chlorophyll a	6%			Aquatic grasses	12%
	Dissolved oxygen	67%			Benthic Index of Biotic Integrity	24%
	Water clarity	5%			Phytoplankton Index of Biotic Integrity	28%
	Water Quality Index	26%			Biotic Index	21%

Excel Spreadsheet

Editable Vector Diagram (SVG)

Maps

This indicator map is already zoomed to the area of this region. You can pan and zoom and also change to another indicator map.

Trends Graph

This graph is dynamic, you can: a) show and hide items by clicking them in the legend, b) select year range (click and drag), and c) export as an image.

Excel Spreadsheet

Region Info

The Patuxent River watershed drains approximately 900 square miles of land. This area includes portions of St. Mary's, Calvert, Charles, Anne Arundel, Prince George's, Howard, and Montgomery Counties. Three main streams drain into the upper Patuxent River: the Little Patuxent, which drains much of the newly urbanized area of Columbia; the Middle Patuxent, which drains agricultural lands in the northern part of its drainage and the outer suburban areas of Columbia in the southern part of its watershed; and the (upper) Patuxent River, which has remained primarily agricultural. Land use in the watershed is mainly forest, with significant urban and agriculture development. Two large metropolitan areas, Baltimore and Washington, D.C., border the Patuxent River, and the watershed has gone through significant suburban development in the past few decades. Columbia and Laurel have developed along the Interstate 95 corridor, which bisects the upper half of the watershed. The 2000 census population for the watershed was 18,000 people. (Based on MD DNR Tributary Strategy Report by Karrh et al., 2007 and updated 2000 land use classifications).

Editable Vector Version (SVG)

Additional Info

Relevant Websites

Patuxent Riverkeeper
Maryland DNR - Watershed Restoration Action Strategies
Chesapeake Bay Program - Tributary Strategies
National Estaurine Eutrophication Assessment database