A.R.M. Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge
Enhanced Water Quality Monitoring and
Modeling
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Report No. LOXA06-004

Enhanced Water Quality Monitoring and Modeling Program for the A.R.M. Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge

Quarterly Update Report - July 2006

Prepared by: Matt Harwell, A.R.M. Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge

With contributions from Laura Brandt, Leslie MacGregor (NPS), Donatto Surratt, and Mike Waldon

Overview

This update is a summary of activities since the previous status report of January 2006 on the implementation of the Refuge's Enhanced Water Quality Monitoring and Modeling Program. A project overview, and other detailed information about the program can be found at: http://sofia.usgs.gov/lox_monitor_model/. The primary objective of this overall program focuses on providing information for use in ecological management of the Refuge (Brandt et al. 2004; Harwell et al. 2005).

The Refuge's monitoring component of this program also addresses one of the Consent Decree Principals recommendations (17 December 2003):

B. Enhancing Monitoring of the Refuge

Design and implement an enhanced monitoring program to improve spatial and temporal understanding of factors related to phosphorus dynamics.

The Refuge's modeling component of this program also addresses several of the Consent Decree Principals recommendations (17 December 2003):

C. Modeling of the Refuge

  1. Develop a water quality/hydraulic model for the Refuge with a phosphorus cycling component.
  2. Evaluate issues associated with phosphorus loads and transports within the L-40 and L-7 canals.
  3. Develop and track a simple phosphorus mass-balance model for the Refuge.

Information Availability

Through collaboration with USGS, information from the Refuge's Enhanced Water Quality Monitoring and Modeling Program has been made available on the USGS' SOFIA web site at: http://sofia.usgs.gov/lox_monitor_model/.

Final data for monthly samples through May 2006 are publicly posted on DBHYDRO by the SFWMD at http://www.sfwmd.gov/org/ema/dbhydro/index.html. Because water quality analyses contracted to the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) concluded in May 2006 (see below), data after May 2006 are not posted on DBHYDRO.

It is anticipated that total phosphorus data will be posted on the Technical Oversight Committee's web site at http://www.sfwmd.gov/org/ema/toc/index.html.

map showing location of Enhanced Water Quality Monitoring network stations, in relation to Consent Decree compliance stations, for the A.R.M. Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge
Figure 1. Location of Enhanced Water Quality Monitoring network stations (LOXA###), in relation to Consent Decree compliance stations (LOX##), for the A.R.M. Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge. [larger image]

Monitoring Update (April - June 2006)

The interagency contract with the SFWMD to provide analytical chemical services for USFWS enhanced monitoring sample processing has expired. The SFWMD declined extending the contract because of laboratory capacity limitations. Starting in June 2006, laboratory analyses previously conducted by SFWMD are being performed under contract to the USFWS by Columbia Analytical Services (CAS). CAS is a participant in the Everglades Round Robin program. Efforts are underway to gain permission and identify procedures by which new USFWS data can continue to be made available to the public on SFWMD's DBHYDRO website.

Sampling of the enhanced water quality monitoring network (Figure 1) occurred at 18 stations in April 2006, 6 stations in May 2006, and 9 stations in June 2006 (Table 1).

Total phosphorus data for 2005-2006 are presented in Table 1. Maps of TP for April and May 2006 are presented in Figure 2 and Figure 3. The June 2006 map was not available at the time of this writing.

Conductivity sonde deployment information for 2005-2006 is presented in Table 2.

April 2006 map of total phosphorus values from the Enhanced Water Quality Monitoring and the Everglades Protection Area stations in the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge May 2006 map of total phosphorus values from the Enhanced Water Quality Monitoring and the Everglades Protection Area stations in the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge
Figure 2. (left) April 2006 map of total phosphorus values from the Enhanced Water Quality Monitoring and the EVPA stations in the A.R.M. Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge. A primary reason that a station is not sampled is that it has less than 10 cm of clear water column representative of that area. [larger image] Figure 3. (right) May 2006 map of total phosphorus values from the Enhanced Water Quality Monitoring and the EVPA stations in the A.R.M. Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge. A primary reason that a station is not sampled is that it has less than 10 cm of clear water column representative of that area. [larger image]

screenshot of table 1
Table 1. Click to view full table.

screenshot of table 2
Table 2. Click to view full table.

Modeling Update

Model development continues. The modeling team is also developing simplified water budget and mass budget models for the Refuge. Three presentations on the modeling effort were made at the June 2006 Greater Everglades Ecosystem Restoration conference (Meselhe et al. 2006a, b; Waldon 2006).

Water Quality Data Analyses Updates

Water quality analyses continue, including analysis of transect water quality data. The present focus is on data analysis for the 2006 Annual Report. Two presentations on the water quality analyses were made at the June 2006 Greater Everglades Ecosystem Restoration conference (Surratt et al., 2006a, b).

Next Steps

The next steps for this program continue to focus on data collection and analysis and continuing forward with model development.

References

http://sofia.usgs.gov/lox_monitor_model/

Brandt, L.A., Harwell, M., Waldon, M. (2004) Work Plan: Water Quality Monitoring and Modeling for the A.R.M. Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge: 2004-2006. Prepared for the A.R.M. Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge. April, 2004. 33 pp.

Harwell, M. Surratt, D., Waldon, M., Walker, B., Brandt, L. (2005) A.R.M. Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge Enhanced Water Quality Monitoring and Modeling Interim Report. April, 2005. 106 pp.

Meselhe, E.A., Arceneaux, J.C., Griborio, A.G., Habib, E., Waldon, M.G. (2006a) Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge Water Budget Model. 2006 Greater Everglades Ecosystem Restoration Conference, Lake Buena Vista, Florida. June, 2006.

Meselhe, E.A., Griborio, A.G., Arceneaux, J.C., Waldon, M.G. (2006b) Hydrodynamic Modeling of the A.R.M. Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge. 2006 Greater Everglades Ecosystem Restoration Conference, Lake Buena Vista, Florida. June, 2006.

Surratt, D., Waldon, M., Harwell, M. (2006) Standard characterization of canal water penetration into the interior marsh of the A.R.M. Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge. Oral Presentation at the Greater Everglades Ecosystem Restoration Science Conference. June, 2006.

Surratt, D., Waldon, M., Harwell, M. (2006) A new analysis approach for characterizing canal water penetration into wetlands - a case study of the A.R.M. Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge. Oral Presentation at the Greater Everglades Ecosystem Restoration Science Conference. June, 2006.

Waldon, M.G. (2006) Simplified Modeling of Canal Water Intrusion in the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge. 2006 Greater Everglades Ecosystem Restoration Conference, Lake Buena Vista, Florida. June, 2006.

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