How does coastal flooding affect Chesapeake Bay water quality?

Dr. Margaret Mulholland, professor in the Department of Ocean, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences has assembled a team of citizen scientists to Measure the Muck and find out! Flooding is a reality in Hampton Roads. On Nov. 5th the highest astronomical tide of the year, dubbed the "King Tide," will raise the water levels throughout Norfolk. An effort to measure water level during the King Tide using the Sea Level Rise phone application will be undertaken by volunteers throughout the region. A subset of these volunteers have been tapped to collect water samples while mapping to determine the magnitude of nutrient and bacterial pollution flowing into the Bay from the flooded areas. Nitrogen, phosphorous and carbon run off of the land and into the Bay, stimulating excessive algal growth that adversely affects water quality. Although scientists estimate average nutrient loads flowing into the Bay from rivers, nutrient inputs from coastal flooding are poorly quantified. By measuring nutrient inputs from the water running off of the flooded areas, Dr. Mulholland hopes to estimate the impact of flooding on water quality in the Bay.

Dr. Mulholland held a training session for Maury High School and ODU volunteers, teaching them to use the phone application. During the King Tide these volunteers fanned out and collected water samples from flooded areas and return them to Dr. Mulholland's laboratory at ODU for analysis.