Water Quality Report Keywords

Salinity- Salinity is a measurement of the salt content in water and is usually expressed in Parts Per Thousand (PPT). Seawater has about 35 parts of salt per 1000 parts of water. Drinking water is less than 0.5 PPT. Salinity levels control the types of plants and animals that live in the different zones of the estuary.

Nutrients- Nutrients, which include ammonia, phosphorus, total kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN), nitrite and nitrate are chemicals required by plants for maintenance and growth. Nitrogen and phosphorus along with water temperature and sunlight control phytoplankton abundance. Although nutrients are essential for the growth of an estuary's plants, an excess may trigger a string of events that depletes dissolved oxygen in the water. Total Nitrogen is the sum of NO2 + NO3 + TKN.

For more information regarding nutrients, see http://www.dep.state.fl.us/water/wqssp/nutrients/

Dissolved Oxygen- Dissolved oxygen is an essential indicator in assessing an estuary’s health. Oxygen enters the water from the atmosphere and through aquatic plant and phytoplankton photosynthesis. The oxygen is then available for aquatic organisms to utilize in basic metabolic processes. Most plants and animals can grow and do well when the dissolved oxygen level exceeds 5 mg/l.  Levels below 3 mg/l causes stress and/or death in many species. Oxygen is used up during the decomposition of organic material. An overload of nutrients from human activities cause overgrowth of phytoplankton. The phytoplankton ultimately die and fall to the bottom where they decompose, using up oxygen. The dissolved oxygen test performed by Aqualab field representatives represents an estimate of the oxygen available at the time of water quality sampling.

Water Temperature- The temperature of the water at the time of sampling is routinely documented and reported during water quality monitoring. Water temperature influences biological and chemical processes, affects local and migrant aquatic species and is a major factor in biological activity and growth. As temperature increases, the water's ability to retain oxygen is lowered which decreases levels of dissolved oxygen available to aquatic organisms, as well as increasing oxygen demands by stimulating biological growth. Ambient water temperatures affect what aquatic species live in what water and sudden changes may cause mortality.

Field Notes - Field observations which may include the presence of seaweed, algae, stingrays and jellyfish, or Fish Kills.