EPA/600/R-16/169 | August 2016 | www.epa.gov/research Environmental Quality of the Pensacola Bay System: Retrospective Review for Future Resource Management and Rehabilitation Office of Research and Development 1 EPA/600/R-16/169 August 2016 Environmental Quality of the Pensacola Bay System: Retrospective Review for Future Resource Management and Rehabilitation by Michael A. Lewis Gulf Ecology Division National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory Gulf Breeze, FL 32561 J. Taylor Kirschenfeld Water Quality and Land Management Division Escambia County Pensacola, FL 32503 Traci Goodhart West Florida Regional Planning Council Pensacola, FL 32514 National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory Office of Research and Development U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Gulf Breeze, FL. 32561 i Notice The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) through its Office of Research and Development (ORD) funded and collaborated in the research described herein with representatives from Escambia County’s Water Quality and Land Management Division and the West Florida Regional Planning Council. It has been subjected to the Agency’s peer and administrative review and has been approved for publication as an EPA document. Mention of trade names or commercial products does not constitute endorsement or recommendation for use. This is a contribution to the EPA ORD Sustainable and Healthy Communities Research Program. The appropriate citation for this report is: Lewis, Michael, J. Taylor Kirschenfeld, and Traci Goodheart. Environmental Quality of the Pensacola Bay System: Retrospective Review for Future Resource Management and Rehabilitation. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Gulf Breeze, FL, EPA/600/R-16/169, 2016. ii Foreword This report supports EPA’s Sustainable and Healthy Communities Research Program. The objective of this Program is to assist community leaders make decisions that preserve the environment and the vital services they provide. The primary objective of this report is to provide an updated summary of the ecological condition of the Pensacola Bay System (PBS) and the value of its ecological goods and services. An updated summary is needed since a considerable amount of published and unpublished technical information has become available since the last summary published 15 years ago. This updated report serves as a technical resource for the public and the regulatory and scientific communities related to resource management. It provides a synopsis of the environmental database (1680-present) and the research needed to maintain and improve the environmental quality of the PBS. The report is a collaborative effort. Authors are from the USEPA’s Gulf Ecology Division Research Laboratory (Gulf Breeze, FL), West Florida Regional Planning Council (Pensacola, FL) and Escambia County Water Quality and Land Management Division (Pensacola, FL). The USEPA Gulf Ecology Division conducts ecological effects research to assess the sustainability of estuarine and coastal systems and determines the factors causing impacts in order to predict future risks. The mission of the WFRPC is to provide professional planning, coordinating and advisory services to local governments, state and federal agencies and to he public to preserve and enhance the quality of life in northwest Florida. Escambia County’s Water Quality and Land Management Division serves the community through development and oversight of local environmental resource projects and programs for the county. iii Table of Contents NOTICE ........................................................................................................................................................................II FOREWORD ................................................................................................................................................................III LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................................................................... VII LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................................................................ XII ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS ......................................................................................................................... XIV ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................................................................. XV EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................................ XVI 1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................................................1 2 HISTORICAL DATABASE ..............................................................................................................................................5 3 NATURAL RESOURCE INVENTORIES (BIODIVERSITY) ..................................................................................................... 13 3.1 History/Overview ...................................................................................................................................... 13 3.2 Fish............................................................................................................................................................. 15 3.3 Macrobenthos ........................................................................................................................................... 18 3.4 Phytoplankton ........................................................................................................................................... 20 3.5 Zooplankton .............................................................................................................................................. 20 3.6 Periphytic Algae ......................................................................................................................................... 21 3.7 Tidal Wetland Vascular Plants ................................................................................................................... 22 3.8 Biodiversity Differences ............................................................................................................................. 22 4 ANTHROPOGENIC CONTAMINANTS ........................................................................................................................... 23 5 GROUNDWATER QUALITY/SUPERFUND SITES ............................................................................................................. 25 6 SURFACE WATER QUALITY ...................................................................................................................................... 26 6.1 Nutrients .................................................................................................................................................... 28 6.2 Trace Metals .............................................................................................................................................. 30 6.3 Persistent Non-Nutrient Organics ............................................................................................................. 32 6.4 Effects-Based Research ............................................................................................................................. 32 7 SEDIMENT QUALITY ............................................................................................................................................... 33 7.1 Chemical Quality ........................................................................................................................................ 34 7.2 Sediment Quality Assessment Guidelines Exceedance ............................................................................. 40 7.3 Toxicity (Fauna) ......................................................................................................................................... 44 7.4 Phytotoxicity .............................................................................................................................................. 50 7.5 Genotoxicity .............................................................................................................................................. 50 7.6 Macrobenthic Community Metrics ........................................................................................................... 51 iv 7.7 SQAG Predictive Ability ............................................................................................................................. 54 7.8 Spatial Comparisons of Sediment Quality ................................................................................................. 55 7.9 Stressor Source Comparisons for Sediment Quality ................................................................................. 59 8 DREDGING ........................................................................................................................................................... 60 9 BIOACCUMULATION (CONTAMINANT BIOAVAILABILITY) ............................................................................................... 62 9.1 Trace Metals (Sans Mercury) ....................................................................................................................