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DESIGNING A COMPREHENSIVE, INTEGRATED WATER RESOURCES MONITORING PROGRAM FOR FLORIDA
Citation:
Summers, J K., R. Copeland, T. Singleton, S. Upchurch, A. Janicki, AND M. Turtorra. DESIGNING A COMPREHENSIVE, INTEGRATED WATER RESOURCES MONITORING PROGRAM FOR FLORIDA. In Proceedings, 1998 National Water Quality Monitoring Council Conference, Reno, NV, July 07 - 09, 1998. U.S. Department of the Interior, Tuscaloosa, AL, 24 p., (1998).
Impact/Purpose:
Describe monitoring plan for Florida waters
Description:
Proceedings of the National Water Quality Monitoring Conference "Monitoring Critical Foundations to Protect Our Waters," 7-9 July 1998, Reno, NV.
In late 1996, Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) initiated an effort to design a multi-tiered monitoring and assessment program that integrated the monitoring of multiple natural resources (e.g., streams, groundwater, lakes, estuaries) with the execution of multiple programs (e.g., 305(b) reporting, total maximum daily load (TMDL) establishment, ecosystem management, permitting, bio-criteria). The program is being designed in a manner that maximally provides information to other important state needs such as basin-wide assessments, development of TMDLs, and the provision of information for permitting. The design, at present, consists of three monitoring tiers focused on three spatial levels of data collection and resource assessment. Tier 1 (Status and Trends) will establish the condition of all aquatic resources in the state by broad geographic divisions (i.e., U.S. Geological Survey Accounting Units, Water Management Districts, and Florida DEP Districts) using a probabilistic design to report 305(b) results. Tier 2 (Basin Assessments) will examine individual basins to establish environmental condition and to set TMDLs by water body using a variety of statistical designs and incorporating significant levels of "found" data. Tier 3 focuses on local conditions within a single water body to provide the information necessary to examine issues associated with re-permitting. The combined tiers will focus on the utilization of biological and ecological data compared with the previous reliance on physical and chemical variables. Tier 1 is scheduled to be initiated in 1999. The process by which a multi-faceted, multi-objective comprehensive monitoring plan for Florida waters is being developed and implemented is described.
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DESIGNING A COMPREHENSIVE, INTEGRATED WATER RESOURCES MONITORING PROGRAM FOR FLORIDA