Fixed-station water-quality monitoring at Fort Pulaski National Monument: 2017–2019 data summary

Starkey, Eric; McCay, Dainiel

In 2005 the National Park Service (NPS) Southeast Coast Network (SECN) Inventory and Monitoring Program began collecting water-quality data in the estuarine waters near Fort Pulaski National Monument (FOPU) as part of the NPS Vital Signs monitoring program. The continuous-monitoring data station is located at Lazaretto Creek. This station collects conductivity, dissolved oxygen, pH, salinity, temperature, turbidity, and water level data every 30 minutes. Southeast Coast Network staff make additional water quality measurements, which include monthly measurements of water clarity conditions, nutrient concentrations, and chlorophyll a levels. Southeast Coast Network staff follow methods adapted from the water-quality monitoring program established by the National Estuarine Research Reserve Program (Wenner and Geist 2001). Data and results are compared to EPA criteria (EPA 2012) which rate conditions as good, fair, or poor. The Fort Pulaski National Monument fixed-station waterquality monitoring site is part of the SECN estuarine water- and sediment-quality monitoring effort, which routinely collects data in the vicinity of seven coastal park units located along the southeastern U.S. coast (DeVivo et al. 2008; Gregory et al. 2013). Information collected by this monitoring program will be used to help managers make better-informed decisions by understanding trends and variability related to water-quality conditions in park waters. Key findings from the 2017–2019 data record are are listed below and summarized in this report. Chlorophyll a concentrations were good for ten samples, fair for fourteen samples, and poor for one sample. Values ranged from 1.95 μg/L to 22.79 μg/L. Water clarity was good for eighteen samples, fair for four samples, and poor for two samples. Values ranged from 0.8 to 5.0. Mean monthly dissolved oxygen concentrations were good to fair throughout the period, ranging from a low of 3.6 mg/L in August 2019 to a high of 10.7 mg/L in January 2018. Eighty-seven percent of daily means were above the threshold for good (> 5.0 mg/L). Mean monthly pH values ranged from a low of 7.6 in summer 2017 and 2018 to a high of 8.0 in February 2017 and January 2018. The daily mean value ranged from 7.4 to 8.3. Monthly mean turbidity was highest during July 2018 at 35.4 FNUs (formazin nephelometric units). The lowest mean daily turbidity reading was 5.9 FNU in March 2018, and the highest mean daily turbidity of 58.3 FNUs was recorded in September 2017. Water temperatures in 2017–2019 ranged from a minimum monthly mean of 8.3°C (46.9°F) in January 2018 to a maximum monthly mean of 30.4°C (86.7°F) in July 2019. Individual temperatures ranged from a minimum of 4.5°C (40.1°F) in January 2018 to a maximum of 32.0°C (89.6°F) in July 2019.

Fixed-station water-quality monitoring at Fort Pulaski National Monument: 2017–2019 data summary

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