Groundwater across the Chesapeake Bay contributes an estimated 48% of total nitrogen loads in the form of nitrate-nitrogen. Talbot County DPW with funding from DNR has added denitrification components to stormwater management practices by constructing woodchip bioreactors in County-maintained ditches. The County and Center for Watershed Protection, Inc. conducted water quality monitoring to quantify the pollutant removal performance of the bioreactors.
Three bioreactors were monitoring for the project, and two included biochar. Biochar performance was not part of the monitoring scope.
