RMA Baywatch Program Water Quality Monitoring in the St. Andrew Bay Watershed, Bay County, FL
Baywatch Photo Albums Click on individual photos to enlarge images and/or click the play button to view as a slide show
Burnt Mill Creek Sample Trip 04.07.11 Photos taken of Morrell Branch, a tributary to Burnt Mill Creek that is receiving water discharged from the southeast side of the airport construction site. Monitoring was prompted by citizen complaints of muddy water being discharged into Burnt Mill Creek. Click here to view water quality data collected during this trip.
*NTU = nephelometric turbidity units. A unit measuring the lack of clarity of water. Water containing 1 milligram of finely divided silica per liter has a turbidity of 1 NTU.
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Burnt Mill Creek Sample Trip 03.12.10 Photos taken of Morrell Branch, a tributary to Burnt Mill Creek that is receiving water discharged from the southeast side of the airport construction site. Turbidity in Morrell Branch at station 2.76 (Upper Morrell) was 20.7 NTU*. Note that while this turbidity level violates the original permit conditions, it is allowable as an interim limit as a result of the latest Consent Order which allows turbidity of up to 44 NTU. Turbidity in Burnt Mill Creek upstream of Morrell Branch (station 2.77) was 4.18 NTU, roughly five times lower than Morrell Branch. It is notable that water flow was minimal in Morrell Branch at the time the turbidity sample was collected. Also notable were significant areas along the banks and interior portions of the marsh that were physically flattened. Several trees were leaning over that were not before and at least one small tree was completely uprooted. It appears that these areas received the physical force of a direct outflow of the discharged water, indicating that a large volume of water was released quickly instead of a more controlled release over time. It has been reported that 300 million gallons of water have been released so far with another 300 million gallons still to be released.
*NTU = nephelometric turbidity units. A unit measuring the lack of clarity of water. Water containing 1 milligram of finely divided silica per liter has a turbidity of 1 NTU.
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Crooked Creek & Burnt Mill Creek Sample Trip 12.03.09 These photographs were taken during a sampling trip on December 3, 2009. This is what Crooked Creek looked like after approximately 6.20 inches of rain fell in the area of the construction site at the new Panama City - Bay County International Airport. A stormwater pond was overtopped during the rain event and the muddy water from the pond is being discharged directly into Kelly Branch, a major tributary of Crooked Creek. Turbidity in Kelly Branch was 125 NTU's*.
*NTUs = nephelometric turbidity units. A unit measuring the lack of clarity of water. Water containing 1 milligram of finely divided silica per liter has a turbidity of 1 NTU. Rainfall was obtained from the Florida Division of Forestry at Pine Log Forestry Tower (Chipola District).
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Crooked Creek Sample Trip 09.19.09 The following photos were taken during a sampling trip on Crooked Creek on September 19, 2009. Cumulative 7-day rainfall prior to this trip was 2.10 inches at Pine Log Forestry Tower. Highest turbidity measured during this trip was 13.2 NTU's in Kelly Branch. The muddy water may have been the result of ongoing "silviculture" activities which involved the excavation of portions of Kelly Branch under a forestry authorization permit for ditch maintenance.
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