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The Lower Eastern Shore Basin Major water bodies in the basin include the Pocomoke, Manokin, Big Annemessex, Nanticoke, Wicomico, Blackwater and Transquaking Rivers, Marshyhope and Monie Creeks, and embayments such as Tangier Sound, Fishing Bay and Honga River. |
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In the Lower Eastern Shore basin, land use is primarily agricultural and forests. Because of the agricultural nature of the Lower Eastern Shore, the largest portions of the nitrogen and phosphorus pollutants come from agriculture sources. The remaining contributions come from a combination of non-point and point sources. In this basin, as in the rest of the state, forest and wetlands are a land use that releases few nutrients to rivers and the Bay. Baywide, approximately 33% of nitrogen loads come from atmospheric sources, however, that varies from basin to basin and is included in land based loads. Download the complete Basin Overview to learn more about the Lower Eastern Shore Basin. See the latest Lower Eastern Shore water quality data (charts for water temperature, salinity, water clarity and dissolved oxygen) for the Nanticoke River, Fishing Bay, the Manokin River, or the Pocomoke Sound, or see water quality for other Bay tributaries. For water quality status and long-term trends, see our status and trends maps. Also, please check out the Basin Summary for the Lower Eastern Shore Tributary Basin. |
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The Lower Eastern Shore, along with all tributary basins in the Chesapeake, contribute to and are impacted by nutrient pollution. Nutrient pollution can be divided into two major categories – point sources (pollution that comes from a single, definable location, such as a wastewater treatment plant or industrial discharge) and non-point sources (pollution that cannot be attributed to a clearly identifiable, specific physical location, such as runoff from land and atmospheric deposition). Runoff from different land uses, point sources, and atmospheric deposition are the major sources of nutrients within the Bay watershed.