Long-Term Objectives:

1. To determine pollutant loading at strategic locations and the changes in water quality that occur within the drainage canal and stream network of a large (8000 ha) coastal watershed.

2. To link- in-stream water quality models with field-scale models to predict cumulative effects of land use, water table management, fertilization, and other cultural practices on water quality and pollutant loading at the watershed outlet.

3. To integrate results from watershed and simulation studies to develop recommended land use and management practices for agriculture, forestry and animal waste utilization that will allow sustainable production without jeopardizing environmental quality.

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Short-Term Objectives:

1. To select, further develop, and validate simulation models for predicting hydrology, in-stream water quality. and pollutant loading from coastal watersheds.

2. To use hydrologic and water quality data to test and further develop simulation models at the field and watershed scales.

3. To analyze data from the watershed and apply simulation models to evaluate efforts of land uses and BMP's and their distribution within the watershed, on hydrology and water quality at the outlet.

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Accomplishments.

1. Field Research: This study is being conducted in cooperation with Weyerhaeuser company, USDA-NRCS, USGS, and N.C. DEM. on 8100 ha watershed near Plymouth. The watershed, drained by a complex network of drainage ditches, canals and streams, includes agricultural lands, natural forested wetlands, and managed and unmanaged forest land. It has been instrumented to measure hydrologic and water quality variables from forested, agricultural and wetland research sites, and in the canals and streams draining the area.

2. Models have been developed and extensively tested to describe field scale hydrology of agricultural and forested areas (DRAINMOD); to simulate the movement and fate of Nitrogen in poorly drained soils (DRAINMOD); and in combination with channel routing models to describe the hydrology on a watershed scale.

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Future Research

Hydrologic and water quality measurements will be continuously conducted over at least a four-year period and used to test and further develop watershed scale simulation models. Treatments on the watershed include clear-cutting a 100 ha block of pine in year 2 of the study and following normal site preparation, planting and regeneration procedures. Results of both field measurements and modeling studies will be used to prepare guidelines for improving water quality and reducing pollutant loading.

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