Project Summary Sheet

Study Title: Internal Surface-Water Flows on Seminole Tribal Lands
Study Start Date: 10/1/96 Study End Date: ongoing
Web Site: http//sflwww.er.usgs.gov/projects/surf_wtr_flow/
Location (Subregions, Counties, Park or Refuge): Seminole Tribe of Florida Reservation
Funding Source: USGS Greater Everglades Priority Ecosystems Science (GE PES); Seminole Tribe of Florida,
Principal Investigator: Rick Solis
Project Personnel: Rick Solis, rsolis@usgs.gov, other Miami CWRS USGS Hydrologic Records support staff, USGS Ocala Lab support staff, Seminole Tribe Water Resource support staff, and South Florida Water Management ESDA staff.
Supporting Organizations: Seminole Indian Tribe of Florida, South Florida Water Management (SFWMD)
Associated/Linked Projects: SFWMD/Seminole Agreement Working Group Report, Western Basin Project Management Plan

Overview & Objectives:

Proposed modified water deliveries to Indian Tribal Lands, Big Cypress National Preserve, and Water Conservation Area 3A require that flow and nutrient loads at critical points in the interior surface water network be measured. Defining the foundation for water levels, flows, and nutrient loads has become an important baseline for Storm Treatment Area 5 and 6 development, recent C-139 Basin flow re-diversions, and future L-28 Interceptor Canal de-compartmentalization including flow rerouting into the Big Cypress Preserve. Flow monitoring for the two primary flow routes for both L-28 Interceptor Canal and L-28 is key to developing this framework.

Status:

Provisional analysis and computation of 2006 water year flows continues along with acoustic flow rating calibration and auto-sampler servicing by Seminole Tribe water resource staff for both flow-weighted acoustic auto-sampler sites. Pre-publication data sets continue to be transferred to SFWMD support staff for nutrient load computation and inclusion in the "Ninth Annual Progress Report for Water Year 2002 through Water Year 2005 - May 1, 2001 through April 30, 2005" for the Seminole Tribe Working Group.

Recent & Planned Products:

Publication was completed in March 2005 for the document, Water Resource Data, Florida, Vol. 2A which includes annual stage and discharge computation for the 2004 water year. The report, Feasibility of Estimating Constituent Concentrations and Loads Based on Data Recorded by Acoustic Instrumentation (OFR-02-285) was published as an ancillary product utilizing existing data for both stations. Publication is planned in March 2007 for the document, Water Resource Data, Florida, Vol. 2A which includes annual stage and discharge computation for the 2005 water year.

Relevance to Greater Everglades Restoration Information

Flow and total phosphorus budget summaries are critical to the newer non-point EPA guidelines and in turn are integral to several of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Project (CERP) planning objectives that rely heavily on Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDL) calculations. Analysis of Storm Treatment Area and Best Management Practice outcomes can only be evaluated through baseline data monitoring efforts. These data sets will define parameters for de-compartmentalization and Tribal Reservation flow re-routing initiatives currently under evaluation.

The study supports Water Conservation Area 3 Decompartmentalization and Sheetflow Enhancement by monitoring the canal inflow and nutrient totals exiting the Seminole Reservation from the West and North Feeder Canals, and the headwaters of the L-3, L-4, and L-28 canal intersections. Flow and nutrient load products from both L-28 Intercepter and L-28 Canals eventual discharge into Conservation Area 3A. Baseline quantification of flow and nutrient totals are critical for defining the success of recent Best Management Nutrient load reduction initiatives for both water-ways. Proposed backfilling of the L-28 Intercepter Canal and subsequent rediversion of flows from Conservation Area 3A and into the Big Cypress Preserve is an import baseline prerequisite prior to flow reapportionment outside the current 3A boundaries.

The study supports Comprehensive Integrated Water Quality Feasibility Study by developing water quality targets for ecosystem restoration. The success of Best Management Practices along with the implementation of Storm Treatment Areas (STA) 5 and 6 can be evaluated based on the baseline total phosphorus load totals resulting from these two critically monitored conservation area inflow points.

Key Findings:

1. A limited set of critical flow, nutrient load, and water-level data sets have been collected to empirically document existing flow and load budgets
2. Acoustic Doppler velocity indexing for wide channels has been proven superior to acoustic time-of-travel velocity indexing for slow flow monitoring following parallel data collection efforts utilizing both systems on the L-28 Interceptor Canal
3. Semi-annual technical interagency meetings have resulted in addressing protocol, instrumentation, and quality assurance issues on a timely basis and has in turn established a template for other multi-agency CERP related efforts for TMDL monitoring using emerging acoustic real-time flow-weighted technologies