Determining the Causes of and Solutions to Algal Blooms in the Chowan River and Albemarle Sound

This project supports continued work by a collaborative partnership coordinated through the Albemarle Resource Conservation and Development Council (ARC&D) to conduct research which includes a regional water quality sampling strategy through three citizen science volunteer organizations supported by analysis and interpretation by university partners. The strategy is designed to assess the importance of the many different sources (large rivers, atmospheric deposition, clear cutting of swamp forest, microbial N2 fixation, and nutrient (nitrogen and phosphorus) loading from small coastal plain streams) of nutrients that are stimulating the blooms in the Chowan River and other tributaries to Albemarle Sound. This proposed project will build on almost a decade of work by continuing to focus on the small coastal plain streams, for which there is little water quality data, but are possibly a large (up to 40%) source of nutrients. Direct grant partners include the Chowan-Edenton Environmental Group (CEEG), Green Saves Green (GSG), Perquimans County Waterway Watch (PCWW), UNC Institute of Marine Sciences (UNCIMS), and North Carolina State University (NCSU).