St

St. Albans Watershed Profile

Size: 12,896 hectares

Major Rivers: Stevens Brook, Rugg Brook, Mill Brook

Lake Segment: St. Albans Bay

ANR Coordinator: Karen Bates

Planning Stage: Began Summer 2003

Major Issues of Concern to Community

Flooding and sediment in town

Growth and planning

Phosphorus loads to St. Albans Bay and associated algal blooms

Research Question

Watershed Questions

1.What are the relative sources of diffuse phosphorus to the bay for different landuse types? Are these coefficients (load/area) similar to those assumed in the TMDL?

2.Which BMPs can be used to reduce phosphorus export from the watershed in each landuse type?

3.How effective were old BMPs implemented with the Rural Clean Water Program in the 1980s?

4.How much phosphorus drains to the bay directly from bayside properties?

5.What is the coarsest resolution scale at which phosphorus dynamics can be simulated in this watershed?

6.What patterns of phosphorus transport emerge when existing knowledge and past research is integrated into a spatially explicit dynamic landscape model?

7.What are the optimal implementations of BMPs in the St. Albans watershed area between and within urban and agricultural, based on the following goals? Maximize reduction in load export; minimize cost (capital and O/M); maximize value added products from BMPs. These include methane production, winter vegetable growing, compost, in agricultural settings. In an urban setting they include green space, flood reduction etc.

8.How effective are proposed stormwater management plans to reduce flooding in the town of St.Albans?

9.What decentralized solutions could be implemented? What is their optimal configuration? How can incentives be structured to encourage implementation?

Stakeholder Questions

1.How important is an understanding of both temporal and spatial dynamics to decision making?

2.Are models best used to determine the best scenarios (optimized) or used to predict effects of politically favorable scenarios?

3.Does the model framework actual lead to differences in policy?

4.How can ecological benefits to the community be transferred to private landownders? What would a market mechanisms approach look like if the regulatory framework existed?