We are excited to announce an expansion of our water quality monitoring program in partnership with the City of Fort Lauderdale. Beginning in January 2021, our team will sample ten new sites within the City of Fort Lauderdale on a weekly basis for the fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) enterococci. The results of these samples will be posted on our free Swim Guide app which lets the public know about water quality conditions in their local waterways.
Miami Waterkeeper’s Environmental Field Technician, Samantha Morejon, and Water Quality Technician, Sierra Jarriel, performing routine water quality sampling (Credit: City of Fort Lauderdale).
If a site has high bacteria levels, we will re-run our site’s samples again until the water quality conditions improve. Thanks to our new water quality monitoring equipment, we will also collect additional data to help us understand the condition of Fort Lauderdale’s water. Parameters such as water temperature, salinity, turbidity (cloudiness), dissolved oxygen, and chlorophyll a (an indicator of algae) will be sampled every week to help paint a better picture of the City’s water quality.
Similar to what Miami Waterkeeper will post for Miami-Dade sites, if a site has failed in Fort Lauderdale, we will share this image on our social platforms letting the public know that we detected high levels of bacteria in the water and will be resampling.
Regular water quality monitoring is important because it helps us diagnose and understand water quality problems as early as we can. Time is of the essence when we’re dealing with an issue that could affect the health of people and marine life.
Visit Swim Guide HERE to view the results from our weekly water monitoring in Fort Lauderdale before enjoying the water!
Read more about our new water quality sampling equipment HERE.
Originally published at https://www.miamiwaterkeeper.org/miami_waterkeeper_launches_fort_lauderdale_water_monitoring_program