Water Quality Monitoring

Fixed-Station Water-Quality Monitoring at Canaveral National Seashore

The National Park Service (NPS) Southeast Coast Network (SECN) began collecting water-quality data in the estuarine waters of Canaveral National Seashore as part the Vital Signs Monitoring Program. The area of focus is Mosquito Lagoon, which has continuous water-quality monitoring conducted by the network at one site, with additional monthly data collected at five stations by St. Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD).

At the Apollo Visitor Center dock an SECN water monitoring station that collects data every 30 minutes for various water characteristics such as:

• dissolved oxygen

• pH

• salinity

• temperature

• turbidity

• water levels.

The five other stations monitored by SJRWMD are located throughout Mosquito Lagoon. Data at these five stations include:

• monthly measurements of water-clarity conditions
• nutrients
• chlorophyll a levels.

The Canaveral National Seashore fixed-station water-quality monitoring site is part of the Southeast Coastal Network's estuarine water- and sediment-quality monitoring efforts, which routinely collects data in the vicinity of seven park units along the southeastern U.S. coast. 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.