THE PENSACOLA BAY SYSTEM SURFACE WATER IMPROVEMENT AND MANAGEMENT PLAN A Comprehensive Plan for the Restoration and Preservation of the Pensacola Bay System Developed by the Northwest Florida Water Management District under the auspices of the Surface Water Improvement and Management Program and in cooperation with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection Authors: Paul Thorpe, Ron Bartel, Patricia Ryan, Kari Albertson, Thomas Pratt, and Duncan Cairns Cover: Scratchboard illustration by Diane Sterling GIS: Ferdouse Sultana Editors: Duncan Cairns, Tyler Macmillan, Ron Bartel, Maria Culbertson, Patricia Ryan, and Paul Thorpe Printing: Hank Montford Program Development Series 97-2 October 1997 recycled paper NORTHWEST FLORIDA WATER MANAGEMENT DISTRICT ==================================================== GOVERNING BOARD Charles W. Roberts, Chairman Tallahassee George Willson, Vice Chairman Tallahassee M. Copeland Griswold, Secretary/Treasurer Chumuckla John O. de Lorge Bennett Eubanks Robert L. Howell Cantonment Blountstown Apalachicola John R. Middlemas, Jr. E. Hentz Fletcher, Jr. Judy Byrne Riley Panama City Quincy Fort Walton Beach ==================================================== Douglas E. Barr — Executive Director ==================================================== For additional information, write or call: Northwest Florida Water Management District 81 Water Management Drive Havana, Florida 32333 (850) 539-5999 The Pensacola Bay System SWIM Plan Executive Summary Mission: “Restore and preserve the Pensacola Bay system for the benefit of all by using a comprehensive, coordinated, and integrated watershed approach supported by local government and a well-informed public.” The Pensacola Bay system (PBS) has historically supported a rich and diverse ecology and provided substantial economic and quality-of-life benefits for the residents of northwest Florida. Over the last several decades, however, it has become apparent that the cumulative effects of a variety of human activities have acted to impair the system’s ecology and diminish the benefits it provides. Such a situation, unfortunately, is common in Florida’s surface waters. In response to statewide degradation of surface waters, the Florida Legislature passed the Surface Water Improvement and Management (SWIM) Act in 1987, directing the five water management districts to prioritize surface waters within their respective jurisdictions and to develop and implement plans to improve the quality of these waters and their associated resources. The SWIM Act also established the SWIM Trust Fund, to which annual appropriations could be made by the legislature for implementation of approved SWIM plans. Legislative appropriations for the SWIM program are now placed in the Ecosystem Management and Restoration Trust Fund. The SWIM Program of the Northwest Florida Water Management District (NWFWMD) approaches water resource management from a watershed perspective. Thus, the Pensacola Bay system, with its associated tributaries and watershed, is recognized as an interdependent system. A watershed approach facilitates coordinated, cooperative management across jurisdictional lines and avoids fragmented, “piecemeal” management. It provides a mechanism, for example, for managing upstream activities in a manner consistent with downstream goals and for managing land use activities in a manner consistent with the uses and values of the aquatic system. This approach is also consistent with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s Ecosystem Management initiative, as the PBS watershed boundary conforms with the Greater Pensacola Bay Ecosystem Management Area (EMA) delineation. The Pensacola Bay System The Pensacola Bay system includes three major river systems: the Escambia, Blackwater, and Yellow rivers. These, in turn, discharge into the estuarine component of the system, which includes Escambia Bay, Pensacola Bay, Blackwater Bay, East Bay, and Santa Rosa Sound. The system also includes smaller tributaries of these rivers and embayments, as well as the overall watershed. The watershed covers nearly 7,000 square miles, about one-third of which is in Florida. The entire system discharges into the Gulf of Mexico, primarily through a narrow pass at the mouth of Pensacola Bay. The Pensacola Bay system has historically supported a rich and diverse ecology, productive fisheries, and considerable recreational opportunities. It has also provided an important resource for commercial shipping and military activities and has enhanced aesthetics and property values. Unfortunately, for many years, point and nonpoint source pollution, direct habitat destruction, and the cumulative impacts of development and other activities throughout the watershed have combined to degrade the health and productivity of much of the Pensacola Bay system. This degradation, in turn, has diminished the human benefits the system provides. Pensacola Bay System SWIM Plan EX-1 Priority Issues The challenges facing the Pensacola Bay system may be summarized in the following broad issue areas. Florida 34% • Water and Sediment Quality. Nonpoint source pollution is carried into the Pensacola Bay system by stormwater runoff from such sources as urban and Alabama suburban lands, agricultural and forestry 66% activities, dirt roads, pavement, construction sites, golf courses, and Approximately Two-Thirds of the lawns. A number of point sources Pensacola Bay System Watershed is in (industrial and domestic wastewater Alabama discharges) also discharge directly into waters of the Pensacola Bay system. This is a relatively low energy system with limited flushing, and pollutant loading has possibly been exceeding its assimilative capacity for decades. Following many years of such pollutant loading, sediments in portions of the system are altered in size and composition, enriched with nutrients, and contaminated with metals and toxic organic compounds. • Habitat Quality. Benthic riverine and estuarine habitats have been, and continue to be, threatened by and degraded through sedimentation and deposition. Degraded water and sediment quality have also caused the degradation and loss of seagrass communities, other benthic habitats, and associated biological resources. Substantial areas of wetlands and other important habitats have been and continue to be lost throughout the watershed. These include tidal marshes, bayous, coastal strand communities, bottomland hardwood swamps, and other littoral and benthic habitats. • Administration, Planning, and Coordination. The Pensacola Bay system watershed spans two states and is subject to the management and regulatory actions of numerous local governments and various state and federal agencies. Effective protection and restoration of the system requires coordination and cooperation with these entities, community organizations, and other resource management initiatives. • Public Education and Awareness. If efforts to protect and restore the resource are to succeed, its values and vulnerabilities must be well understood by the public. This will both help individuals make informed personal decisions relevant to water resources and promote an understanding of resource management initiatives. This is particularly significant given the importance of voluntary participation and achieving consensus across diverse interests. The interrelationships between and among these issues are important to understand. For example, poor water quality, originating from both point and nonpoint source pollution, has been a primary cause of the demise of seagrasses throughout much of the system and has also degraded other benthic and littoral habitat conditions throughout much of the riverine and estuarine system. Habitat destruction, in turn, adversely impacts water and sediment quality. Regulatory and other management activities simultaneously affect water quality, habitat, and adjacent land uses, and public education and awareness are prerequisite for the success of any resource management effort. Progress and Revision of the Pensacola Bay System SWIM Plan This SWIM Plan for the Pensacola Bay system is the latest revision of the plan originally approved in November 1988 and revised in November 1990. With this revision, the watershed and planning area boundary has been modified to include the Escambia, Blackwater, Yellow, Shoal, and East Bay rivers and the majority of Santa Rosa Sound. Additionally, the structure of the plan has been modified to EX-2 Pensacola Bay System SWIM Plan improve readability and consistency between sections, projects have been updated, and their format has been revised. Project work completed to date includes a review of the 1970s’ Water Pollution Control Plan; preliminary nonpoint loading estimates; assessment of water quality data; analysis of historical tributary monitoring data; stormwater assessments for the Palafox/Coyle, Bayou Texar, and Bayou Chico watersheds; point source compliance assessment; Pensacola Bay system biological monitoring needs study; scientific literature review; an institutional and regulatory assessment; and initial work to protect Jones Swamp. A considerable portion of the project work described in the 1990 revision of the Pensacola SWIM Plan, however, was not completed due to funding limitations. Some of the projects detailed in this revision, therefore, entail implementation and/or completion of projects previously proposed. This plan revision does not simply represent an incremental continuation of the previous revision, however. The current