Water Quality Testing and Monitoring

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Collier County Waterkeeper and our team of FGCU interns are out performing regular water sampling and monitoring. CCWK is testing 18 sites around the greater Naples area, our sites include beaches and recreational areas. With the generous donations from our members and communities, CCWK will be adding new sites around Golden Gate Estates and Marco Island. All of our test results can be found on Swim Guide.

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What does CCWK test the water for?

 

• Fecal Bacteria: CCWK regulary tests all of our sites for Enterococcus, which is used an indicator of fecal bacterial contamination, and the possible presence of bacteria and viruses that can potentially sicken swimmers and other who use the water for recreation or eat raw shellfish or fish. If we find a site that is used for reacreational activities such as swimming or fishing that reads at a high level, we will preform another test within 24 hours and recommend a closure to FDOH and post it on our social media and Swim Guide to warn residents and visitors to avoid the water in these location.

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• Nutrients: Nutrient pollution is Florida's largest environmental issues. It is caused by excess nitrogen (N) and phosphorous (P) in the water. Both N and P are nutrients that are natural parts of the aquatic ecosystem, but as Collier County has grown and development has taken over, excessive N and P have been introduced into the watershed. This is when too much of a good thing  turns bad, as too much N and P in the water causes algae and cyanobacteria to grow faster than ecosystems can handle. Through monitoring the Total Phosphorous and Total Nitrogen in the water watershed, we are able to address problem areas through community education and working with Pollution Control to reduce the loads to help prevent fueling future algae blooms, like Red Tide.

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• Red Tide: Karenia brevis is the dianoflagellate known as Red Tide. While Red Tide is a naturally occuring algae bloom that occurs along Florida's Gulf Coast, human impact on the local environment has brought added manmade nutrients into the watershed which has been found to fuel and exacerbate an onshire Red Tide bloom arguably creating longer lasting blooms resulting in the large loss of marine and avian life. In 2020, CCWK will start weekly testing for Karenia brevis along onshore and offshore sites along Collier County's coastline bringing Collier County residents and visitors more transparant data about the severity of the bloom.

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• Cyanobacteria: As nutrient pollution increases and water temperatures continue to rise, freshwater algae blooms will become a worsening issue. While Lake Okeechobee is widely  known to be the source of blue-green algae in the Caloosahatchee River in Lee County, we have our localized problem areas with Blue-green Algae and Lyngbya blooms. CCWK is working with communities and residents who spot cyanobacteria blooms in their community lakes and canals to help identify the species and follow up with testing to analyze for potentially harmful toxins that have severe impacts on aquatic life, but also to human health.

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Collier County Waterkeeper, our FCGU interns, and our volunteer Rangers are, also patrolling our beaches and waterways monitoring conditions, water clarity, salinity levels, and dissolved oxygen levels. This data is being used to monitor signs of hypoxia (dead zones), salt water intrusion, and various coastal impacts of our waterways from climate change.

 

All of our efforts are based through citizen science. We use the assistance of a team of experts and biologists to analyze our collected data and ensure all testing meets required protocols.

 

If you are interested in joining a fun team of citizen scientists to help monitor and clean our waterways, become volunteer Ranger with Collier County Waterkeeper. For more information about the CCWK Rangers, contact us today. 

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Litter Clean Ups

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Part of Collier County Waterkeeper's mission is to clean our waterways. Sadly, litter is an issue in Collier County, and around the world. As we continue to pursue a single use plastic and polystyrene free world, there is much of it to clean up. While litter is a worldwide issue, litter can be found along most of the roadways, parking lots, parks, and beaches in Collier. About 80% of the litter in the ocean comes from land. We live in a region where every major roadway is near a canal, river, or bay and our storm water runoff ends up in the watershed, and eventually the Gulf, bringing litter with it. Wildlife and marine life populations have been signifacntly impacted from litter on land and in the ocean.

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CCWK continues to work towards cleaning our waterways and canals of litter to reduce our local impact to this worldwide problem. When our team is out patrolling and pulling water samples, we are focused on cleaning up and tracking the litter we remove. We advocate for a litter free Collier County where ever we go. CCWK holds regular litter clean ups along the beaches and in the parks. If you would like to volunteer for future cleanups of have a location you recommend for a cleanup, contact us today!

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Habitat Loss

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As Collier County's population expands, more development and infrastructure replaces much of the natural habitat of our native wildlife and marine life. 

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Water Quality

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The water quality of the watershed is key to its health and the health of the local economy.  This campaign will seek to protect and improve water quality in the watershed and coastal waters for recreation and habitat function.  Key targets will be stormwater, septic systems, and wastewater treatment plants. We will act as an investigation, reporting and clean-up team, engaging point source issues identified through information compiled by the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, local water management departments like Friends of Rookery Bay, Natural Resource Department at the City of Naples, and the Water Management Department at Collier County.

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Additionally, we will monitor and provide water quality information to the public through the Waterkeeper’s Swim Guide website and mobile application. There are currently several beaches in Marco Island and Naples that do not have reliable water quality information consistently available. The  Waterkeeper will keep the water quality ratings up to date for Naples, Marco Island and will pursue other volunteer monitoring locations.

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The Waterkeeper will examine all the NPDES permits in Collier County. This could yield great results, because there are probably some problematic waste water plants.

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Outreach and Education

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The Waterkeeper will organize new events, as well as participate in existing and planned events, to promote awareness of the Waterkeeper organization, educate and involve the public of its campaigns and initiatives, and increase membership and support.  

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There will be a special emphasis on water purity, sports and entertainment events, where the Waterkeeper will be a sponsor. We will have a presence at water oriented athletic events; such as competitive sailing, paddling, canoe and swimming races, as well as music and entertainment oriented outreach and development events such as concerts and benefit parties.  

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We will develop a web presence through a website, Facebook and Twitter, and possible use of a devoted blog site, podcasts, a YouTube channel, and an Instagram feed.  The social media presence will be used to attract attention and build membership.  The Waterkeeper will be a conduit for publications and information released by the Conservancy of Southwest Florida and other environmental offices by sharing on Waterkeeper social media channels.   The Waterkeeper will also pursue corporate sponsorships with appropriate local and regional businesses such as Arthrex, Hertz, Naples Surf Shop, Naples Kayak Company among others.

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The Waterkeeper patrol boat will also be an important vehicle for outreach and education.  Having a regular presence on local waterways to pique and maintain public interest in the organization.

the possible presence of disease-causing bacteria, viruses, and protozoa. These pathogens can sicken swimmers and others who use rivers and streams for recreation or eat raw shellfish or fish.