2004 Status and Trends in Water Quality at Selected Sites in the St. Johns River Water Management District

Ambient water quality data for a variety of water body sampling sites withinSt. Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD) were compiled andanalyzed to evaluate status and trends. Status results indicate whether waterquality at a particular site is good, fair, or poor, while trend results indicatewhether water quality has improved, stabilized, or degraded. Most of theambient sites were last reported-on in 2004. Thirty-four more sites wereadded for this report. Spring and stream sites were evaluated using a waterquality index, while lake and estuarine sites were evaluated using a trophicstate index. The water quality index incorporates nutrients, physicalconstituents, and bacteria, while the trophic state index incorporates nutrientsand chlorophyll. Many water bodies lacked sufficient data for either a statusor trend assessment. Those sites that had sufficient data had historically beensampled on a regular basis. Most of the sites in the SJRWMD exhibited goodor fair water quality, although some sites were degrading. Forty-eight percentof the sites assessed districtwide had good water quality, 31% had fairquality, and 21% had poor quality. Fifty-two percent had a statisticallyinsignificant trend, while 19% were improving, 8% were degrading, and 20%had insufficient data for trend analysis. This study did not consider whatfactors were responsible for the trends found.

Publisher - St. Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD)

Subjects - Water Quality

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Citation: SJRWMD. 2006. 2004 Status and Trends in Water Quality at Selected Sites in the St. Johns River Water Management District. Palatka (FL): St. Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD); Technical Publication SJ2006-6. 106 pp http://www.sjrwmd.com/technicalreports/pdfs/TP/SJ2006-6.pdf