Water quality management--Florida

Multiple tracers, such as DO, ammonia, TN, TOC, E. coli, TC, and Enterococcus were
analyzed in order to identify and characterize trends in coastal water quality. This study
focused on three factors; wastewater disposal and treatment alternative; season; and
human population density. Samples were collected in representative sites of urban
Broward County and of rural Taylor County, FL, for pair-wise comparison. Sites
included areas connected to the public sewer network and served by on-site treatment and
disposal system (OSTDS). Sampling activities were conducted through seasonal low and
seasonal high water table elevation (SLWT and SHWT), and always on slack to outgoing
tide. Different statistical tests were performed, including: t-Tests, correlation analysis,
principal component analysis (PCA), and analysis of variance (ANOVA). Results
suggested that water quality is lower: in urban sites compared to rural sites; in OSTDS
sites compared to sewered areas; and SHWT compared to SLWT.

The South Florida Water Management Model was developed to evaluate proposed alternatives for the south Florida regional hydrologic system. The degree of certainty of the computed system performance measures is required to correctly apply these measures for evaluation and selection of appropriate water resources policies and investments. Initially, a sensitivity matrix is defined which summarizes the model output sensitivity to incremental changes of key parameters. The method of singular value decomposition is applied to the sensitivity matrix to better understand relations between parameters and output variables. Finally, parameter uncertainty is compared to that of total predictive uncertainty of the system performance measures.

Across the state of Florida, stormwater retrofit projects have been gaining increasingly more attention in recent years, mainly due to the effects stormwater and non-point source pollution have shown to have on the environment. Many retrofit projects focus mainly on "end-of-pipe" solutions with little regard for watershed behavior and the nature of the drainage system's deficiencies. This report focuses on an intimate understanding of watershed behavior and how the knowledge gained by such an understanding can be a valuable tool in designing an effective stormwater management system. A case study is presented involving a small urban watershed in the Town of Davie, Florida. An intense site investigation was performed followed by a modeling procedure using the Environmental Protection Agency's Stormwater Management Model. The knowledge gained was applied to building an understanding of the drainage system and its deficiencies, and developing a tailored set of solutions for both quality and quantity.