Water quality 101

Let’s continue a very important topic of discussion for local residents and visitors here on Amelia Island — water quality. Water quality monitoring is done to ensure our waterways are safe places to recreate and that local ecosystems are healthy. Unfortunately, areas on Amelia Island are not scoring well in water quality testing. 

Let’s look at what things can negatively affect water quality. Starting with the broadest categories, we can look at point source pollution and non-point source pollution. 

Point source pollution is fairly straightforward. If you find a natural body of water that is polluted and can trace the pollutants back to a single location, that is point source pollution. This may be a factory or a leaking septic tank, or it may be a golf course. This type of pollution can ideally be monitored, regulated, and managed. The second type of pollution is non-point source pollution, which is a little trickier. This is where we ALL get involved. These are everyday human activities that end up impacting our waterways. 

There is an amazing educational tool that is being used all over the country to demonstrate how humans impact our local waterways. It is the EnviroScape, which is a 3D model that demonstrates how contaminants on the land surface enter our waterways. This activity is enjoyable to do with children, using cookie sprinkles and ice cream syrups to represent contaminants that may enter a watershed from daily human activities. 

Children can add to the EnviroScape surface all the things commonly used by humans. Is oil leaking out of your car? Chocolate syrup! Do you put fertilizer and pesticide on your lawn? Green sprinkles! Do you have a dog pooping on the lawn? Chocolate sprinkles! Children continue to add all the land “contamination” onto the surface of the EnviroScape. Then, we make it rain and wash all the contaminants off the “land surface” into the “waterway.” The model drains the water, collecting it beneath the surface so the kids can see it. The water that runs off the land surface is now very contaminated. What does the water run-off look like? It is not good …

This is an incredible way to teach what an impact our daily lived have on our natural waterways. The demonstration really hits home, as the EnviroScape helps kids understand non-point source pollution. 

There are specific parameters that water technicians use to monitor natural waterways and determine whether the water is healthy. For freshwater, water monitors test for temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, turbidity, nutrients, and E. coli. Cooler waters hold more oxygen, which is optimal; dissolved oxygen is essential for aquatic organisms. The pH is important because natural systems need a normal range, turbidity measures water clarity, and too many nutrients can cause toxic algae blooms. 

Another interesting way to monitor the health of a fresh body of water is to evaluate the macroinvertebrates present. Macroinvertebrates are aquatic animals, such as dragonfly larvae, which live in the water. Dragonfly larvae are indicators of good water quality. Other macroinvertebrates can indicate poor quality water, such as low oxygen levels. Typically when a freshwater body is healthy, macroinvertebrates are abundant and diverse. 

For Amelia Island, the most concerning parameter is E. coli. We are failing this test in many locations, consistently and over many years. E. coli has been measured between two and 10 times over the safe recreating limit for humans. We have a problem.

There are a few very important questions that need to be asked:

1. Are the local officials addressing the issue?
2. Where are the contaminants (E. coli) coming from?
3. What is that plan to address water quality issues on Amelia Island?

My guess is the high E. coli results are from point source pollution, which can be traced back to its origin. We have a duty to act to ensure our local waterways are clean. Amelia Island gives us so much, let us return the favor by taking proper care of this amazing and beautiful island we call home.