Urea in the Tributaries of the Chesapeake and Coastal Bays of Maryland

Concentrations of dissolved urea were monitored in several Chesapeake Bay tributaries from 1998 to 2002. Urea is a commonly used agricultural fertilizer and is also a breakdown product of poultry manure, which is used as an additional source of fertilizer throughout the watershed. Two trends were apparent. First, in several of the tributaries, seasonal peaks in ambient urea concentration coincided with the periods of the year (early spring and...