Water quality monitoring issues in the Everglades ecosystem

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Water quality monitoring issuesin the Everglades
ecosystem

• Nicholas G. Aumen
• Aquatic Ecologist

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Why has the health of the Everglades declined?

• Human development has fundamentally
• altered the hydrology of the system
• Water sources and supply
• Distribution of flow
• Water depths
• Hydroperiods
• Timing of water deliveries

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Central and Southern Florida Flood Control Project

• Created by US Congress in 1948
• Encompasses 18,000 square miles
• More than 1,000 miles of canals, 720 miles of
  levees, and 200 water control structures
• Provides water supply, flood control
• Designed to service 2,000,000 residents

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Environmental damage from the CSF Project and
other sources

• Loss of more than 50 of the Everglades
• Altered hydropatterns
• Loss of wading bird habitat
• Proliferation of exotic plants and animals
• Massive algal blooms in Lake Okeechobee
• Spread of nuisance cattails in Everglades
• Mercury contamination in the food web

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Water quality issues
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Historically, the Everglades was nutrient
limited, particularly with respect to phosphorus
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Excessive nutrient loading from agricultural and
urban sources has led to detrimental biological
impacts
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Total P concentration in WCA-2A soil (0-10
cm) (DeBusk et al., in press)
1990
1998
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Everglades Construction Project
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Water quality issues specificto the A.R.M.
LoxahatcheeNational Wildlife Refuge
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Early June, 2005 Low inflow and outflow
conditions
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Water quality monitoring challenges

• TP concentrations at or below detection limit at
  unimpacted sites
• High DOC levels interfere with many analyses
• Laboratory performance at these low levels can be
  an issue (good QA/QC programs and certification
  very important)
• Collection of undisturbed water column samples
  from a shallow wetland takes special care
• Determination of wet deposition chemistry
  difficult
• Determination of nutrient budgets complicated by
  uncertainties in deposition, seepage, and ET
• Impacts not revealed by water column
  concentrations

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Acknowledgments

• Everglades Research Division, SFWMD
• Sue Newman, SFWMD
• Richard Pfeuffer, SFWMD
• Dianne Smith, SFWMD
• Paul McCormick, USGS
• SFWMD website
• Donatto Surratt, USFWS
• Leslie MacGregor, NPS

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