How clean is that river near your home?

A surface water monitoring station at Emeralda Marsh Conservation Area.

~New technology allows residents to check water quality data in their region with the click of a mouse~

PALM BAY, Fla., Feb. 6, 2018 — Ever wonder how clean that water in a nearby lake, stream or spring is? The St. Johns River Water Management District is now making it easier than ever before to get those answers. Data from more than 400 monitoring stations has been compiled into an interactive web page to help the public understand what’s going on with water quality in their area.

“Our vision was to provide an easy way for anyone to learn about water quality throughout the district or at their homes where it matters most,” said St. Johns River Water Management District Executive Director Dr. Ann Shortelle. “It’s interactive. You can view all of the monitoring sites throughout the district or type in your address and see what’s happening locally.”

Protecting and restoring water quality is a core mission of the district and this innovative database is one way of keeping the public informed about the strides that are being made each year. Monitoring provides a wealth of information that enables the district to make resource decisions based on accurate and timely information. Throughout its 18-county service area, the district has 207 surface water monitoring stations, 270 groundwater monitoring wells and 26 springs monitoring stations that measure many parameters, such as nitrogen, chloride and water temperature.

To access the page, check out https://www.sjrwmd.com/data/water-quality/#status-trends and choose one of the three tabs marked “surface water,” “groundwater” or “springs.” There you may choose one of the many listed parameters and view the map to the right to determine whether they’re increasing, decreasing or largely unchanged.