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Measuring & Protecting
WATER QUALITY

Dr. Cynthia Heil, Senior Research Scientist, Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission - Florida Wildlife Research Institute; co-chair of the Water Quality Team's Harmful Algal Bloom workgroup.

What is the Water Quality Team doing? Our team works to improve the condition of water in the Gulf of Mexico – which supports healthy Gulf communities and a strong natural resource base. Our workgroups include:

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  • The Harmful Algal Blooms group which tracks and forecasts harmful algal blooms like red tide;
  • The Pathogens group which works to improve detection and identification of sources of bacterial and viral contamination of coastal waters;
  • The Mercury group which researches sources of mercury that impact Gulf fisheries and public health; and
  • The Monitoring group which standardizes methods to collect and report data about water quality throughout the Gulf of Mexico, making it easier to coordinate among the different monitoring programs collecting that data, and helping people find information more easily on water quality monitoring activities in the Gulf of Mexico.


Why? Understanding and responding to these issues will help protect the health of Gulf residents as well as fish and shellfish, which are incredibly important for the economy of the region.

What does this Gulf Alliance team call itself? Water Quality for Healthy Beaches and Seafood.

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Priority Issue: Water Quality for Healthy Beaches and Shellfish Beds

Interviewee: Cynthia Heil, Florida
Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission

My name is Cynthia Heil and I'm a senior research scientist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's Fish and Wildlife Research Institute, located in St. Petersburg, Florida. I lead a group of 27 scientists who track and monitor harmful algal blooms, including red tides, and their impacts in Florida. I also work with the Gulf of Mexico Alliance Water Quality Team. Harmful algal blooms are one of several major priorities for the Team.

Florida red tides are caused by large concentrations of the toxic microalgae, Karenia brevis. Twice a week, we provide our red tide data in bulletins to the public and to resource managers, including state managers and the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, who use this information to open and close Florida's shellfish beds to harvesting. Our program monitors coastal waters throughout Florida for over 70 potentially harmful or toxic microalgal species. These single-celled marine plants have the potential to affect human health and environmental health. Our researchers study all harmful microagal species, but our main focus is on Karenia brevis.

Red tides are a natural occurrence and have affected Florida since before humans settled here. Early explorers to Florida reported massive fish kills in their ships logs. Nowadays, you yourself may have seen or smelled dead fish that died as a result of a red tide. Or you may have experienced the red tide 'tickle.' This tickle or cough is the result of the irritation to your respiratory system from breathing in very minute concentrations of the red tide toxin.

This toxin is carried in the wind and sea spray in coastal areas.

Filter-feeding shellfish like oysters and clams can accumulate high levels of red tide toxins. Eating these shellfish during or immediately following a red tide bloom can cause illness. For this reason, shellfish locally are banned from human consumption during a red tide. Shellfish and fish available in stores and restaurants are safe to eat however because they come from unaffected areas.

While many people may be familiar with red tide, they are probably unfamiliar with the scale of the coordinated red tide research effort underway. Both state and federal funds support an array of projects, including the potential role of nutrient pollution in red tide. The development of new ways to find red tide is an especially exciting area of study. Scientists are using algal DNA to identify the individual cells of a red tide bloom. This can almost instantaneously distinguish the Florida red tide cells from other microscopic organisms in the water - kind of like CSI: Red Tide. We're also looking at the big picture. We use space satellites in new ways to identify the extent and location of a red tide. Computer models are also helping us to predict red tide locations. These models use currents and water data from a network of offshore buoys. These techniques are key tools to help us identify and better understand and cope with red tides.

We also use technology to share what we learn with the public. As I mentioned, biweekly red tide monitoring reports are available to resource managers as well as the public. You can get this information on the FWC website. You can even sign up to have this report emailed to you. This information can help you make informed decisions about your daily activities, especially if a red tide is affecting your area.

The Gulf of Mexico Alliance is providing scientists and environmental managers with a common framework to address many of our shared red tide related issues. These important issues include human health impacts, such as respiratory irritation, or the impacts on endangered species such as manatees or sea turtles. By sharing our resources and information, we are working together to better understand red tide and its impacts.
 
Learn About Water Quality
Watch Once Upon a Tide video about the forgot Water-Issue2 Water-Issue3
Watch Once Upon a Tide Video - The Ocean is Calling To You Enjoy a photo gallery trip along the Peace River Quiz yourself on Florida Water Trivia
 
Water Quality FAQ's Print E-mail

Is the water quality at my beach or bay good, or not? I wish there was a simple answer to that. Just because water has a slight color or odor, does not mean that it isn't healthy. For example, many Florida Rivers have a healthy natural brownish color caused by tannins in the water that come from leaves.

Water quality problems can be invisible to the eye, such as bacteria from human and natural waste, which is one of the reasons beaches are sometimes closed.

Your best bet is to be aware of local beach, shellfish or other reporting systems and to contact them if you have concerns. One example is the Beach Conditions Reports in South Florida which provides twice daily reports at local beaches at www.mote.org/beaches.

Is red tide caused by polluted runoff from the land? Red tide is a microscopic plant, or algae, whose growth is stimulated by nutrients such as fertilizers, pet and human waste, and other things that can be contained in land-based runoff. However, scientists have not been able to link red tide blooms with runoff events. One obvious problem with proving the link is that red tide blooms initially occur offshore, miles away from land. They are then blown by onshore winds towards coastal communities. Weekly red tide reports are provided by the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission at http://research.myfwc.com/features/default.asp?id=1018.
 
Pathogens Workgroup Print E-mail
Nutrient Criteria Whitepaper
Comments Regarding Pending EPA Clean Water Act, Recreational Water Quality Criteria (678kb pdf)

Establishing new limits on the amount of disease-causing agents, called pathogens, safely allowable in coastal waters was the focus of an EPA stakeholder workshop in Chicago last October, attended by representatives of the Gulf of Mexico Alliance. The perspective of the Pathogens Workgroup of the Gulf of Mexico Alliance’s Water Quality Team was that the current national approach to pathogen standards does not recognize the unique character of Gulf ecosystems. The differences between Gulf water quality conditions and those found in other parts of the country was a primary concern. For example, parts of the Gulf have high salinity and large amounts of natural dissolved organic matter, which can affect the results of water quality testing, used to determine the safety of swimming and fishing areas. Their concern was that if water quality variations like those in the Gulf are not considered in creating a national standard, then beaches and coastal areas may be inappropriately closed. Closed beaches can hurt local economies and frighten the public.

To address these concerns, Gulf of Mexico Water Quality Team members proposed that a variety of Gulf of Mexico coastal environments be considered and evaluated as part of developing water quality standards based on research, instead of quickly setting national standards across the board.

Some of the special Gulf environments proposed for additional research include:

  • Low population coastal areas including much of the northern Gulf and the Florida Big Bend region;
  • High salinity areas like Laguna Madre, Texas;
  • Areas where waters contain a large amount of colored dissolved organic matter, due to the release of tannins from decaying leaves and other detritus in places like Weeks Bay in Alabama, or Florida’s Suwannee River Sound.

The recent stakeholder workshop in Chicago was part of the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) efforts to address water quality issues in today’s environment. They are working to set new, updated water quality standards by 2012 as directed by the Clean Water Act (CWA) established in 1972. The purpose of the CWA is to safeguard the waters of the United States, including standards to protect the nation’s water quality from harmful pollutants.