Understanding the sources and movement of phosphorus is an important part of managing water quality within the Everglades ecosystem. Stormwater Treatment Areas play a key role in these efforts, making it important to understand the factors that may influence phosphorus concentrations in water leaving these systems.
DynamicSolutions | DCCM Modeling Director Silong Lu, Ph.D., P.E., D.WRE, recently shared research examining one of those potential factors: vertical groundwater seepage.
Dr. Lu presented the findings at the Greater Everglades Ecosystem Restoration (GEER) 2023 conference. The work, completed with the South Florida Water Management District, evaluated the effects of vertical groundwater seepage on outflow phosphorus concentrations within Everglades Stormwater Treatment Areas.
Understanding a Potential Source of Phosphorus
Water quality within a complex system like the Everglades can be influenced by numerous interconnected processes. Determining the relative contribution of individual phosphorus sources can help water resource managers better understand treatment performance and focus attention on the factors having the greatest influence on water quality.
As part of this work, Dr. Lu evaluated whether vertical groundwater seepage represented a significant contributor to phosphorus concentrations at the modeled Stormwater Treatment Areas.
The findings suggest that, under typical loading scenarios, vertical groundwater seepage is not a significant factor in outflow phosphorus concentrations at the modeled areas.
Informing Everglades Water Quality Management
Understanding which processes have—and do not have—a significant influence on phosphorus concentrations provides valuable context for water quality management.
The findings help clarify the relative contribution of groundwater seepage compared with other potential phosphorus sources within the modeled Stormwater Treatment Areas. This information can support a more complete understanding of how these important Everglades water quality mitigation features perform and the processes influencing their outflow concentrations.
Research and modeling efforts such as this provide water resource managers with additional information for evaluating complex environmental systems and supporting ongoing Everglades restoration and water quality initiatives.
DynamicSolutions | DCCM works alongside public agencies and water resource partners to apply advanced modeling and technical analysis to complex water quality, hydrologic, and ecosystem challenges.
Explore DynamicSolutions | DCCM’s services or connect with our team to learn how our modeling and water resources expertise can support water quality management, ecosystem restoration, and environmental decision-making.
