PLAN FORMULATION 



Social and economic factors also 

 play an important part in the Chesa- 

 peake Bay Low Freshwater Inflow 

 Study. An inventory has been made of 

 those economic and social activities 

 which might be affected by changes in 

 freshwater inflows. Examples of 

 these are the withdrawal of water for 

 municipal and industrial use and a 

 potential change in finfish and 

 shellfish harvest which would affect 

 the seafood harvesting and processing 

 sectors. Intensive analyses will be 

 performed relative to all such acti- 

 vities to establish the social, 

 economic, and environmental impact of 

 reduced freshwater inflows. 



In conjunction with the environ- 

 mental, social, and economic assess- 

 ments a preliminary institutional 

 analysis will be done to survey the 

 existing political, legal and finan- 

 cial structure as it relates to pos- 

 sible implementation of flow cri- 

 teria. This analysis will focus on 

 the entire Chesapeake Bay Basin. 



The next stage of the program 

 will be oriented to formulating and 

 evaluating those alternate flows from 

 the major tributaries which have the 

 potential for alleviating any prob- 

 lems which may be identified. Up- 

 stream measures to achieve these 

 flows will also be identified. Such 

 measures may include reservoir stor- 

 age to augment low flows in the 

 river, conservation measures which 

 produce reductions in consumptive use 

 of water, and policy changes regard- 

 ing future growth in water-consump- 

 tion activities. 



The biological, economic, so- 

 cial, and institutional impacts of 

 the alternative flows and measures to 



achieve these flows will be assessed 

 and evaluated, although the upstream 

 analysis will probably be in consid- 

 erably less detail than the assess- 

 ment and evaluation of impacts in the 

 bay proper. Based on these analyses, 

 those alternative flows most accept- 

 able under the guidelines provided 

 through the Water Resources Council 

 in its Principles and Standards will 

 be identified and tested during the 

 plan low flow model test. The data 

 from the biological, social, economic 

 and institutional analysis and the 

 final model test will be used in the 

 selection of the schedule of flows to 

 be recommended for each of the major 

 tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay. 

 While a recommended flow schedule 

 will be provided for each of the 

 major tributaries, no recommenda- 

 tion will be made as to the specific 

 upstream measures that should be 

 undertaken to meet the recommended 

 flows. It is anticipated that recom- 

 mendations for further study of spe- 

 cific upstream alternatives will be 

 included in the final report. 



DISCUSSION 



Question: Would you care to 

 comment on any other uses that the 

 model over on the eastern shore of 

 the Chesapeake Bay is going to be put 

 to in the near future? 



Answer: 



I'll answer this 



question in the context of how the 

 Corps of Engineers is using the Hy- 

 draulic Model in its studies of 

 Chesapeake Bay. We have formulated a 

 four-year program of tests on the 

 model. The largest component of this 

 program is the Low Freshwater Inflow 

 Test that I have just described. 

 But, we are also looking at other 

 problems that are related to fresh- 

 water inflow. One of these is the 



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