Everglades Hydrology and Water Quality Data

Two hydrology and water quality datasets are available for this project. The Northern Everglades Research Site and Sample Information dataset contains a summary of the site locations, data types, and measurement periods in ENR, WCA2A, and WCA2B. The Seepage Meters Site and Sample Information dataset contains vertical fluxes across wetland peat surface measured by seepage meters at research sites in ENR, WCA2A, WCA2B, and WCA3A.

Additional data can be found in the appendices of the Open-File Reports 00-168 and 00-483. For restoration of the Everglades to succeed there must be comprehensive knowledge about physical, chemical, and biological processes throughout the system. A key measure of success in the Everglades is the improvement or protection of water quality under changing hydrologic conditions.

Although there is a basic understanding of how interactions between groundwater and surface water will affect water budgets under restoration, there is only a rudimentary understanding of how interactions between groundwater and surface water will affect water quality. Only field-oriented research and modeling can determine whether interactions between groundwater and surface water are currently storing pollutants in groundwater, how long those pollutants are likely to be stored in the aquifer, and under what changing management conditions associated with restoration will those pollutants be returned into the surface water system.