The condition and quality of Charlotte Harbor from Venice to Bonita Springs to Winter Haven is monitored by its friends and partners. This monitoring is to help us guide our management of the estuaries to protect the values we all hold dear. The Charlotte Harbor National Estuary Program (CHNEP) has been established in part to be an advocate of the estuaries, and the things we examine periodically are freshwater flow, water quality, habitat and some special species. This website includes links to stream flow, water releases, red tides and much, more more.

• Environmental Update Summary: April 1, 2007 to June 30, 2007

• Earlier summaries

Freshwater flow into the estuaries of Charlotte Harbor and its components is critical to maintaining the lower salinity that becomes the first component of a nurturing estuary. Freshwater flow comes from rainfall, groundwater flow and stream flow. The flow we monitor best is stream flow, and the three streams we watch are the Caloosahatchee, Peace and Myakka rivers. We become concerned if flows are too low or too high. For the Caloosahatchee, below 300 cfs is too low and above 4500 is too high. The links provided offer information on water flows for many of the rivers and tributaries found in the CHNEP study area.

USGS Data

• Saddle Creek near Lakeland (State Highway 542)

• Peace River at Bartow (minimum flow 16 cubic feet per second)

• Peace River at Zolpho Springs (minimum flow 45 cubic feet per second)

• Peace River at Arcadia (minimum flow 67 cubic feet per second)

• Myakka River near Sarasota

• Spring Creek near Bonita Springs

• North Branch Estero River at Estero

• Imperial River near Bonita Springs

• South Branch Estero River at Estero

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

• Caloosahatchee River at W.P. Franklin Lock and Dam S-79 (text)

• Discharge last month (graphic)

• Discharge last three years (graphic)

Mote Marine Laboratory

• Weather on Pine Island Sound This site is no longer active due to damage caused by Hurricane Charley.

The quality of the Harbor's water is critical for public health, and in maintaining a balance that prevents any particular water quality problem.

In April 2001 a cooperative monitoring network commenced implementing the CHNEP Long Term Monitoring Strategy.

There are several coordinated water quality monitoring programs in the CHNEP study area. The links provided offer additional information on water quality.

• Charlotte Harbor Environmental Center (CHEC)

• Florida Department of Environmental Protection initiated a statewide watershed management approach for restoring and protecting water quality and implementing total maximum daily loads (TMDLs). TMDLs must be developed for all waters that do not meet water quality standards for their designated beneficial uses and are thus defined as impaired according to the Impaired Water Rules.

• Maps of impaired areas within the CHNEP study area for the following parameters as of 2005:

• Nutrients (PDF file, 217 KB)

• Dissolved Oxygen (PDF file, 201 KB)

• Heavy Metals (PDF file, 208 KB)

• Mercury (PDF file, 198 KB)

• Bacteria (PDF file, 209 KB)

• Water Condition Reports

• South Florida Water Management District has an on-line database, named DBHydro, to answer specific water quality data questions. To obtain a Water Quality Summary for Tidal Caloosahatchee, follow the link, select next and, on the next page, select the period of record of interest. Follow the same process to obtain a Water Quality Summary for Estero Bay.

• Lee County Environmental Lab Data includes reports, graphs and report format features. The results over the period of record for both fresh and marine surfacewater samples can also be downloaded..

The backbone of the estuary's habitat is the sea grass beds and the mangrove and salt grass fringe. We monitor for the extent and health of these systems. Of these, seagrasses are the most affected by unseen human activities. We monitor several stations for grass type and health, and the absence of grass shows a problem. The links provided offer information on local seagrass beds. A number of indicator species show how well the estuary is working. Some species are of particular interest to our health and economy. We watch for algae outbreaks and the closure of oyster beds due to contamination. The websites here show the "red tide" watch and the areas closed to shell fishing.

• Red tide

• Fishkill Maps

• Shellfish Harvesting Status

• Aquaculture

Coordinating Science and Restoration in Southwest Florida: The link is to a very large PDF file. You can also access this file from the CHNEP FTP site in the "files promoted on website" folder.