Boca Ciega Bay Watershed

Southwest Florida Water Management District calculates the Aquifer Resource Indicator (ARI) for their three groundwater regions each month. The ARI was created to provide the public with a gauge of groundwater levels in their area, so they can develop an understanding of the severity and cycles of drought and recovery. The three regions include: North (Citrus, Hernando, Lake, Levy, Marion and Sumter counties), Central (Hillsborough, Pasco, Pinellas, and Polk counties), and South (Charlotte, DeSoto, Hardee, Highlands, Manatee, and Sarasota counties). Learn More about the Aquifer Resource Indicator >>

To determine the ARI for a region, each well is compared weekly to its respective low-normal value and the difference is calculated. The weekly differences are reduced to a monthly value for all monitoring wells within a region, and the resulting ARI value represents how far water levels in the aquifer must rise or fall to reach their respective low-normal values.

Source: SWFWMD Hydrologic Data Section Data
Click here to view a period of record graph for the central, north, and south groundwater regions

The following data are summarized as seasonal average values for lake and river sampling locations located within the watershed. While these data are useful to serve as a general picture of watershed health, these data must be viewed with caution because these samples have been taken from ecologically different water resources.

Rivers:

Samples from most rivers located in this watershed are averaged as part of these data summaries.

Season	Total Nitrogen	Nitrate (NO3)	Total Phosphorus	Orthophosphate	Number of Sample Stations	Number of Samples
OCT-DEC 2012	612 ug/l		52 ug/l	0.01 mg/l	3	5
JUL-SEP 2012	921 ug/l		68 ug/l	0.03 mg/l	4	7
APR-JUN 2012	783 ug/l		85 ug/l	0.05 mg/l	3	4
JAN-MAR 2012	948 ug/l		77 ug/l	0.04 mg/l	3	4
OCT-DEC 2011	814 ug/l		70 ug/l	0.03 mg/l	7	12
JUL-SEP 2011	881 ug/l		102 ug/l	0.03 mg/l	6	8
APR-JUN 2011	840 ug/l		122 ug/l	0.05 mg/l	7	12
JAN-MAR 2011	699 ug/l		68 ug/l	0.02 mg/l	7	9
Five Year Seasonal Graph	Graph		Graph	Graph
Five Year Graph of All Samples	Graph		Graph	Graph

Source(s): Legacy Pinellas Water Quality Data, FDEP Historic Data from Legacy STORET, PINELLAS Water Quality Data, FDEP Ambient Monitoring Sampling Data, FDEP Southwest District Sampling Data, USGS National Water Information System

Lakes:

Samples from most lakes located in this watershed are averaged as part of these data summaries.

Season	Total Nitrogen	Nitrate (NO3)	Total Phosphorus	Orthophosphate	Number of Sample Stations	Number of Samples
OCT-DEC 2012	2,189 ug/l		73 ug/l	0.02 mg/l	2	8
JUL-SEP 2012	1,916 ug/l		39 ug/l	0.01 mg/l	3	13
JUL-SEP 2012	753 ug/l		40 ug/l		1	1
APR-JUN 2012	1,951 ug/l		60 ug/l	0.01 mg/l	3	5
JAN-MAR 2012	1,448 ug/l		61 ug/l	0.01 mg/l	3	5
JAN-MAR 2012	790 ug/l		104 ug/l		1	1
OCT-DEC 2011	1,363 ug/l		42 ug/l	0.03 mg/l	3	11
JUL-SEP 2011	1,384 ug/l		59 ug/l	0.02 mg/l	3	8
APR-JUN 2011	2,516 ug/l		85 ug/l	0 mg/l	3	11
APR-JUN 2011	677 ug/l		28 ug/l		1	1
JAN-MAR 2011	1,373 ug/l		55 ug/l	0 mg/l	3	4
JAN-MAR 2011	1,047 ug/l		71 ug/l		2	2
Five Year Seasonal Graph	Graph		Graph	Graph
Five Year Graph of All Samples	Graph		Graph	Graph

Source(s): LAKEWATCH Volunteer Water Quality Monitoring, Legacy Pinellas Water Quality Data, PINELLAS Water Quality Data, FDEP Ambient Monitoring Sampling Data, FDEP Southwest District Sampling Data, SWFWMD Water Quality Monitoring Program Data, USGS National Water Information System

River	Flows Whole River Range	Flows Data by Segment	Levels Whole River Range	Levels Data By Segment
Longbranch Creek	In the past 30 days Average river flow is faster than it has been historically.	Flows Data Table and Graph	In the past 30 days Average water levels are higher than they have been historically.	Levels Data Table and Graph
Pinebrook Canal	In the past 30 days Average river flow is faster than it has been historically.	Flows Data Table and Graph	In the past 30 days Average water levels are higher than they have been historically.	Levels Data Table and Graph
Saint Joes Creek	In the past 30 days Average river flow is faster than it has been historically.	Flows Data Table and Graph	In the past 30 days Average water levels are higher than they have been historically.	Levels Data Table and Graph

Source(s): Hillsborough County Environmental Protection Commission, LAKEWATCH, Manatee County Department of Environmental Management, Orange County, City of Orlando, Sarasota County, St. Johns River Water Management District, Southwest Florida Water Management District, Southwest Florida Water Management District, USGS National Water Information System

Source(s): Not Available