Water Quality Update – September 25, 2015

All looks pretty good! Salinities are still higher than normal for some locations but no issues really. Oxygen looks fine and bacteria levels are low. Good times. WE WILL BE ADDING THE HIGH SCHOOL DATA BEGINNING TODAY. Washington High monitors Bayou Texar, West Florida monitors upper Perdido Bay, and Escambia will begin monitoring bayou Grande very soon. They do not sample weekly so will post their data once a month – beginning today!

 

FWC reported background levels of red tide near Gulf County in the panhandle, Sarasota, Charlotte, and Manatee counties in SW FL this week but no Karenia brevis was not detected anywhere else in the state.

 

No lionfish have been verified in the bay since the capture of one near Sherman’s Cove last week. UWF will be going out again this weekend.

 

The FWC Fish Kill Database is still down.

There has been concern about cases of Vibrio infection. We have posted an article about this bacteria which you can find at https://blogs.ifas.ufl.edu/escambiaco/2015/07/10/what-you-need-to-know-about-vibrio-bacteria-in-gulf-waters/

 

Health Advisories – 3 reported this month

Fish Kills – none to report this month

Red Tide – none to report this month

Inshore Lionfish – 1 was found near Ft. McRee and Sherman Cove in Big Lagoon

 

Here are the numbers…

 

Sep 25, 2015

 

FDEP Data

Body of Water Temp (F) Salinity (ppt) DO (mg/L) ENT ECHD

Floridatown 80 20.4 5.3 6

Blackwater River 77 2.7 7.8 96 (coliform)

Bayou Texar 84 20.9 6.6 4 Good

Bayou Chico no data

Bayou Grande no data

Lower Perdido Bay 80 22.2 nd 4

Upper Perdido Bay 83 17.4 nd 18 (coliform)

Wayside Gulf Breeze 81 26.4 nd 0

 

HIGH SCHOOL DATA

Washington High sampled Texar on Sep 1 and 15.

Water temperatures declined over those two weeks

Salinities were between 10 – 20 ppt

Dissolved oxygen read 3.8 mg/L at station #1 (12th avenue bridge) on Sep 1 but increased

Station #1 had high nitrogen levels all month (1400 – 1800 µg/L)

Stations #3, #4 (near Bayview Park) were 0 µg/L

There was a significant increase in phosphorus at #3 (Oyster Barn boat ramp) on Sep 1

There was a significant increase in chlorophyll a at #2 (Hyde Park road)

There was a significant decrease in water clarity in the bayou during September

 

West Florida sampled Upper Perdido Bay between Jan-Apr 2015 – no report so far this semester

Saw a significant decrease in total nitrogen in the spring

Saw a significant decrease in total phosphorus in the spring

Chlorophyll a was much higher in Jan than anytime during the spring

 

Escambia High – no report at this time

 

ENT – Enterococcus bacteria; an individual sample should not be more than 104 colonies / 100ml

Fecal Coliform – an individual sample should not be more than 800 colonies / 100ml of sample

DO – dissolved oxygen should be 3.0 mg/L or higher

ECHD – Escambia County Health Department (Enterococcus bacteria)

Good 0 – 35 colonies / 100ml

Moderate 36 – 104 colonies / 100ml

Poor +104 colonies / 100ml

 

FDEP – Florida Department of Environmental Protection

For more information on local water visit:

http://escambia.floridahealth.gov/programs-and-services/environmental-health/beaches/index.html

 

http://whs-ecsd-fl.schoolloop.com/cms/page_view?d=x&piid=&vpid=1395816840292&group_id=1395814370227&no_controls=t

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Posted: September 25, 2015


Category: Water
Tags: Water Quality


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