Tidal Creeks Water Quality Assessment Framework

Tidal creeks are vital habitats as nurseries for estuarine-dependent species and play a significant role in material transfer and ecological processes. Despite this, they remain woefully understudied relative to larger riverine and open estuary systems. This project aimed to change that by developing a tidal creek report card and management framework for a population of over 300 creeks in southwest Florida.

ESA’s water quality scientists addressed this management need by collaborating with three contiguous National Estuary Programs and six county governments along the Gulf Coast of Florida as well as the US EPA to develop a unified management strategy for southwest Florida tidal creeks. The effort included dedicated sampling of a subset of creeks, coordination among a large group of stakeholders, and extensive data analysis to identify indicators of creek water quality condition. The resulting management strategy includes indicators of tidal creek health and report card outcomes designed to direct limited capacity to manage natural resources towards those creeks where remedial efforts can be most effective in improving tidal creek condition.

The Tidal Creek Water Quality Assessment Framework Dashboard reports tidal creek health, and other environmental indicators, which water managers can utilize to adapt management strategies.

By using the principles of open-science and an openly available dashboard, water managers across the region are able to see a snapshot of each creek’s health, replicate results, and identify and prioritize potential problem areas that should be targeted for intervention. It is important to note that the framework outcomes do not carry any regulatory authority and are not intended to supersede any State or Federal regulatory standards currently in place, including aquatic life criteria used to evaluate waterbody impairments or pollutant load reduction goals associated with existing or forthcoming total maximum daily loads (TMDLs), but instead are used to drive local efforts to protect and restore critical habitat for important species of recreational and commercial value.

The findings of this research and more in-depth information about the effort is available in the article by Mike Wessel et al., “Developing a Water Quality Assessment Framework for Southwest Florida Tidal Creeks.”