SCCF Marine Lab submits water quality data to state
The Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation’s Marine Laboratory recently uploaded its water quality data from Gulf waters off the islands into the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s Watershed Information Network database system, officials reported. It is a step forward so that the state can evaluate the Gulf of Mexico’s quality for management planning.
The SCCF Water Quality Database was created in 2009 and it includes 88,000 sampling and analysis records from nearly 9,700 separate sampling events. Using the R/V Norma Campbell, the lab regularly collects water quality data in the Gulf.
“That’s a lot of records,” SCCF research associate Mark Thompson said. “The FDEP requires each record to go through a series of more than 100 quality-assurance checks before it can be accepted. The data must be in the correct form and order, with the correct elements that fall within acceptable ranges. You can imagine how time-intensive this feat was to upload 88,000 records.”
The Impaired Waters Rule requires the state to identify impaired waterbodies based upon existing water quality data. The FDEP’s Watershed Information Network database evaluates and maps the state’s waters, each portioned into what the state calls a “waterbody ID unit.” A certain amount of data is needed before the unit is evaluated, and the information is used by researchers and reported to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
“SCCF has collected enough data to satisfy FDEP requirements for evaluating Gulf of Mexico waterbody segments near Sanibel and Captiva,” Thompson said. “This data is ready to be accessed by FDEP so it can get started on improving water quality in the Gulf.”
“This sounds dry and boring to most folks — even to the person who did it,” he added. “But there was a warm and fuzzy feeling which transpired just after the deed was done.”