Portability of the Chesapeake Bay TMDL Protocols- A Test Case in Florida
Francesca Lauterman
Black & Veatch
Tampa, FL
Authors: Francesca Lauterman, John Kiefer, Megan Long, Kristen Nowak
The Chesapeake Bay TMDL program includes one of the nation’s most well-established quantitative approaches to crediting stream and floodplain restoration as water quality BMPs. Currently, the State of Florida does not have a formal approach or program for crediting stream restoration. The McCoy’s Creek stream restoration project in highly urban downtown Jacksonville is within the city’s stormwater quality bank used for permitting and crediting downtown development projects. Proposed restoration of floodplains in the headwater reaches would reduce the footprint and treatment of an existing stormwater pond, so quantitative reasonable assurance that stream and wetland restoration would replenish the debit was required for permitting.
Our team developed a synoptic study to provide regionally appropriate, quantitative stream restoration water quality benefits to support the permitting process. The study included extensive review of the 2021 Chesapeake Bay Protocol nutrient load removal methodology for applicability in Florida streams, estimation of project-specific load reductions using the Bay Protocols, comparison of treatment estimates using regional stormwater compliance software, and comparison of results to literature values and regional contexts.
The presentation will summarize estimation of nutrient load removal via bank stabilization (Bay Protocol 1), hyporheic exchange (Bay Protocol 2), and floodplain reconnection (Bay Protocol 3), highlighting characteristic differences of Florida streams and how the methodology allows portability between regions and stream types, and summarizing comparison of results with regional estimates and literature values. It will also discuss how approval of the nutrient loading estimates by the permitting agency set precedents for stream restoration crediting in Florida.
About Francesca Lauterman
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