Transcript Land Based Sources of Pollution

Water Connects the Southeast Florida
Coral Reef Ecosystem
Kurtis Gregg, M.S.
Florida Coral Reef Fishery Ecologist
ECS-Federal, Inc on contract to
NOAA Fisheries Service
Habitat Conservation Division
The Southeast Florida
Coral Reef Tract
The southeast Florida coral reef tract is
approximately 110 miles long and generally
varies from less than 1 to 3 miles from
shore off Martin Palm Beach, Broward and
Miami-Dade counties.
Over 6 million people live, work and play
here, and another 25 million visitors enjoy
the beaches, waterways, and reefs of
southeast Florida each year.
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The Coral Reef Ecosystem of
Southeast Florida
Credit: Mares 2012
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Interconnected Habitats in the
Southeast Florida Coral Reef
Ecosystem
• Sustainable coral reef ecosystems need functional
back-reef habitats (e.g. seagrass, mangroves,
hardbottom, unconsolidated sediments, and coastal
inlets) to provide access, nursery, shelter, cover and
foraging opportunities for reef fish, prey and the other
organisms in the coral reef ecosystem.
• These habitats are interconnected by reef fish and
prey life history, and affected by tidal water
exchange, freshwater flows, submarine groundwater
discharge and human activities.
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Fisheries Habitat Connections
Photo: Google Earth 2013
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Southeast Florida
Coastal Ocean
Dynamics
Very simple-water leaves
the inlets and goes
north…Right?
Not really!
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The Florida Current interacts with wind
and tides to create a dynamic coastal
ocean environment
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Eddies change the direction
and speed of nearshore
coastal currents
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Upwelling results in unusual
conditions on southeast Florida
reefs
Upwelling is a natural occurrence
that brings nutrient rich water to
the Florida reef tract
In our region, upwelling is most
frequently observed in the
summer (July and August) off St.
Lucie Inlet, but occurs along the
entire southeast Florida reef tract.
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Water and Southeast Florida Coral
Reefs
Southeast Florida coral reefs
evolved in an environment
that provided clean (low
nutrient concentrations), clear
water with low stormwater
runoff to the ocean.
Credit: Dave Gilliam, Nova Southeastern University
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Nutrient Cycling
Water on the Florida reef
tract was usually low in
nutrient concentrations, so
plants and animals in the
coral reef ecosystem
developed intricate
strategies to cycle limiting
nutrients to maximize their
productivity.
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Land Use Affects LBSP
Water picks up and carries
nutrients and other compounds
as it flows over land.
What water picks up changes
in composition and quantity
depending on the type
of land use.
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Typical Pathways for Pollutants in
a Coastal Ecosystem
Credit: Hans Paerl
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Stormwater management in
Southeast Florida
Stormwater is
routed through
southeast Florida
canals before
being discharged
to estuarine
waters, like Lake
Worth Lagoon.
Photo: Google Earth 2013
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Wastewater Management in
Southeast Florida
The four methods of municipal
wastewater effluent disposal in
southeast Florida include:
• surface discharges
• ocean outfalls
• deep well injection
• reuse
Photo: Palm Beach Post 2010
Graphic: USGS 2013
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Freshwater inflows to the Lake
Worth Lagoon
Source
Percentage of Inflow
West Palm Beach Canal (C-51)
Earman River Canal (C-17)
49.7
12.5
Boynton Canal (C-16)
10.7
West Palm Beach sewage treatment plant
Boynton Beach sewage treatment plant
Groundwater
2
2
1.3
0.3
22.3
1Data
from Palm Beach County Environmental Resource Management. 1990. Lake Worth Lagoon: Natural
resources inventory and resource enhancement study. 226pp
2Sewage treatment plants which no longer discharge into the lagoon.
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Septic Systems
Septic systems can adversely
affect ground water quality (i.e.
the Biscayne Aquifer) and
surface waters with human
pathogens (bacteria and
viruses) and high nutrient
levels.
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Nutrient Pollution in Coastal
Waters of Southeast Florida
Flux of nutrients from four treated-wastewater outfalls and the
Boynton Inlet
Source
NH4
kgN/d
N+N
kgN/d
TN
kgN/d
TSS
kg/d
TP
kgP/d
Boca Raton
425.3
133.7
684.5
243.0
28.4
Hollywood
1779.3
179.4
2482.1
2541.9
164.5
2044.9
179.6
2541.9
83.0
Broward
n/a
n/a
South Central
571.3
200.2
913.2
439.5
Boynton Inlet (September-high
655.0
633.5
n/a
n/a
n/a
56.9
122.3
616.3
6566.4
n/a
flow)
Boynton Inlet (June-normal
flow)
From Carsey and others 2012. Boynton Inlet 48-Hour Sampling Intensives: June and September 2007. 43pp
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Southeast
Florida Inlet
Contributing
Areas
To understand how water and pollution
loads move in southeast Florida, Inlet
Contributing Areas (ICA) are being
delineated by a contractor with guidance
from NOAA Fisheries and South Florida
Water Management District.
Extensive watershed modifications have
occurred in Florida for flood control, human
use and more recently, environmental
restoration. How water moves once it has
“gone to tide”, i.e. discharged to the
Intracoastal Waterway, is less well known.
ICA’s were delineated in the “Normal”
condition. Direction and flow of water are
different during flood and water supply
(drought) conditions.
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Stressors and Pollutants
What is a stressor?
A stressor is any kind of input,
process or activity that
adversely affects the functioning
of an ecosystem over time.
Stressors can be naturally
occurring, e.g. hurricanes, or
can be related to human
activities.
What is a pollutant?
Pollutants are stressors that
include man-made substances
(e.g. biocides, pharmaceuticals,
sun screen, perfume) or can be
constituents already present in
nature that are elevated by
human actions (e.g., nutrients,
hydrocarbons, metals and
sediments.
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Land-based Pollutants Affecting
Southeast Florida Fisheries
Habitats
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Nutrients (Nitrogen and Phosphorus)
Salinity (especially rapid changes)
Turbidity
Sedimentation
Biocides
Heavy metals
Hydrocarbons and other organic compounds
Pharmaceuticals and personal care products
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Sources of LBSP
Source
Nutrients Sediments Turbidity Biocides Metals Hydrocarbons Pharmaceuticals
Stormwater
X
Treated
Wastewater
X
X
X
X
X
Untreated
Wastewater
(also high in
bacterial and
viral pathogens)
Ocean Outfalls
X
X
X
X
X
X
Submarine
Groundwater
Discharge (also
has low DO and
temperature)
Beach
Nourishment
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
From Gregg 2013. Literature review and synthesis of LBSP affecting essential fish habitat in southeast Florida. 55pp
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Land-based Pollutants affecting
Southeast Florida coastal waters
Excessive nitrogen and phosphorus
can result in adverse changes to
estuarine and marine ecosystems.
Increases in nutrients have been shown
to promote the growth of macroalgae and
cyanobacteria that can smother benthic
animals; and phytoplankton blooms that
reduce light and dissolved oxygen levels
when the phytoplankton die off.
Credit: Dave Gilliam Nova Southeastern
University
Credit: Karl Havens, Florida Sea Grant
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Salinity
Changes in salinity can
stress or kill important
plants (e.g. seagrass) and
animals (e.g. oysters and
sponges) in southeast
Florida estuaries. While
the St. Lucie River estuary
was in the news last
summer, many other
southeast Florida estuaries
also faced similar impacts
from low salinity.
Credit: Florida Oceanographic Society
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Sediment and Turbidity
Sedimentation can kill filter feeding
animals like corals, sponges and
oysters by smothering, burial or
inhibiting feeding and can adversely
affect seagrass and other estuarine
habitats by direct burial.
Credit: NOAA Fisheries Service
Turbidity decreases light penetration
and reduces photosynthetic production
by seagrass, algae and coral
zooxanthellae in coastal waters.
Credit: Florida Department of Environmental Protection
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Land-based Pollutants Affecting
Southeast Florida Coastal Waters
Biocides and their
degradation
compounds can be
highly toxic to corals,
crustaceans, and
other benthic animals
at very low
concentrations
Credit: Wikipedia 2013
Credit: Sailing Buzzards Bay
http://sailingbuzzardsbay.frankgerry.com/?p=118
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Land-Based Pollutants affecting
Southeast Florida
Organic (Oil) pollution usually
occurs when hydrocarbons are
released into the environment
from stormwater runoff or oil
spills.
Petroleum products usually
remain near the water surface
and may not contact reefs or
other sub-tidal habitats; however,
these compounds may still affect
developing larvae that float at the
surface.
Credit: NY Daily News 2010
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Land-Based Pollutants
affecting Southeast Florida
Intertidal oyster and seagrass
habitats are particularly
vulnerable to organic pollution.
Credit: NOAA Fisheries
Credit: NOAA Fisheries
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Land-Based Pollutants affecting
Southeast Florida
Heavy metals are known
to kill or damage marine
animals such as corals,
mollusks (oysters, clams,
conch), and crustaceans
(lobsters, crabs, shrimp).
Credit: US EPA Mercury Report 1998
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Land-Based Pollutants affecting
Southeast Florida
Pharmaceuticals
(medications and hormones)
and Personal care products,
(e.g., lotions, fragrances,
insect repellent), end up in
estuarine and marine waters
of southeast Florida.
These pollutants are not
removed by secondary water
treatment, but can be removed
by advanced treatment of
wastewater.
Credit: Alejandro Ramirez, Baylor University
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2010/04/pollution/fish-pharm
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Key Recommendations
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Reduce nutrient loading from all human-induced sources and pathways, including
surface water management, septic systems and ocean outfall discharge, to improve
conditions for estuarine and marine habitats.
Support implementation of numeric nutrient water quality criteria for nitrogen
and phosphorus that are in the process of being developed by the state of Florida
Support construction of additional water storage reservoirs, stormwater
treatment areas , flow equalization basins, and use of appropriate technologies
to reduce nutrient levels before release of water to southeast Florida estuaries and to
modulate salinity changes in those estuaries.
Modify beach nourishment activities to minimize sedimentation and turbidity
impacts to nearshore hardbottom, worm reef, and other marine habitats.
Use an ecosystem-based fisheries habitat perspective to inform current water
quality improvement planning and management activities in southeast Florida to
reduce LBSP impacts to estuarine and marine EFH. The ecosystem based fisheries
management approach considers the physical, chemical and biological components
and connections between species and between habitats.
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Questions?
[email protected]
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