BACKGROUND:

Home Background Purpose and Scope Approach and Methods Results and Discussion Conclusions

With respect to hydrology, the BICY is one of the least altered ecosystems remaining in south Florida. Water quality in the BICY is typically good, as indicated by historical data collected by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and by ongoing water-quality monitoring by the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) in cooperation with the BICY. However, along the western boundary of the BICY, the Barron River Canal drains agricultural lands to the north, and also has other potential point sources of contamination along the canal. In addition, a number of pesticides have been reported in surface waters and bottom sediments in Collier County during 1989-92, including aldrin, BHC, chlordane, dieldrin, endosulfan sulfate, endosulfan I, endrin, and heptachlor (Shahane, 1994). As a result, the degradation of water and sediment quality is a cause of concern for the BICY.

Limited data indicate that water and sediment quality in parts of the Barron River Canal and vicinity are degraded. The C. J. Jones Lumber Company operated a sawmill at a location near the Barron River Canal from 1940 to 1956. From the early 1950s to 1956, it also operated a creosote wood treatment facility at the site (Law Engineering and Environmental Services, 1993). In 1990, the Florida Department of Environmental Regulation (FDER) investigated the site after a complaint was filed about water quality of residential wells in the Jerome area. The Collier Development Corporation entered into a Consent Agreement to assess the soil, sediment, surface water, and ground water at the site. In December 1990, the Collier Development Corporation excavated the former creosote wood treatment unit and the soils surrounding the unit. The excavated soils were thermally treated on site (Law Engineering and Environmental Services, 1993).

Contamination in the Barron River Canal area at the Jerome site was evaluated in April 1992 - April 1993 (Law Engineering and Environmental Services, 1993). They analyzed samples for a group of semivolatile organic compounds (SVOCs) referred to as base/neutral extractables, and detected several SVOCs in bottom sediments in the nearby canal, and in ground water adjacent to and downgradient of the creosote wood treatment unit, but not in surface waters near the site. Contaminants found in bottom sediments included acenaphthene, anthracene, fluoranthene, fluorene, phenanthrene, and pyrene, and ranged in concentration from less than detection limits to more than 50,000 µg/kg (p. 36-37). A similar suite of base/neutral extractables were detected in ground waters near the creosote site, but also included naphthalene which was detected at concentrations up to 15,000 µg/L at one well. Two ground-water plumes of base/neutral extractables were defined in the vicinity of the former creosote wood treatment sites; a shallow plume at 9 m deep (below land surface) and a deeper plume at about 18 to 46 m deep (Law Engineering and Environmental Services, 1993, p. v).

Another potential source of contaminants exists along the Barron River Canal near Copeland, where a market, several abandoned buildings, mobile homes and other structures, a 3,800-liter underground storage tank, generators, transformers, abandoned vehicles, batteries, drums, other storage tanks, and trash are located. The underground storage tank was used for unleaded gasoline sales and contamination has been reported but no clean-up had begun by 1998 (Law Engineering and Environmental Services, 1998).

According to a report by the Collier County Environmental Services Division (1994, p. 48) that summarized sediment quality throughout the count's inland canal system from 1989 to 1991, the Barron River Canal had the highest bottom-sediment concentration of 99 µg/kg of -BHC reported for the State of Florida. -BHC is a degradation product of lindane (-BHC). This high value was reported at a site where County Road (CR) 858 crosses the canal (Grabe, 1996).

Grabe (1996) summarized sediment-contaminant data collected in Collier County, which includes the BICY and the Barron River Canal. He reported that trace elements were enriched in some canals, pesticides were detected in more than 40 % of the samples collected, and that polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) occurred in very high concentrations in at least one canal in the county. In addition, Mattraw (1973) indicated that certain trace elements were transported from agricultural lands north of BICY to estuaries of the 10,000 Islands. Because the Barron River Canal drains farm lands north of the BICY, it is reasonable to assume that the canal may transport contaminants to the BICY, Everglades National Park, and the 10,000 Islands. The extent of the contaminants contained in the Barron River Canal, however, is not well defined, but this information is needed to evaluate potential effects on the Preserve and downstream areas.