Emily UR - Phase One complete

April is looking like the busiest month of this year so far! To refresh, my project is studying nutrient pollution due to runoff and atmospheric deposition before and after a rain. There are essentially three phases for this project, phase one being the collection of "before rain" data from each of my sites, phase two being the collection and analysis of rainwater and phase three being the collection of "after rain" data from each of my sites. I've finally collected samples from both my sites completing phase one!

HPSMP = Halifax Plantation Stormwater Management Pond
TPSMP = Tuscawilla Park Stormwater Management Pond
3 different samples taken per site

I used the nutrient criteria limits of the halifax river because I couldn't find a more specific nutrient limit outside of the powerpoints for this class. In this graph, which shows the amounts of total nitrates (grey) and total phosphates (blue) in mg/L before a rain, I only added the nutrient criterion line for total phosphates because the limit for total nitrates (0.72mg/L) is much higher than any of my recorded values.
Now, onto phase two. I will continue to eagerly track the weather to collect my next set of data.

Last week I was asked a question from former geology student Michael Blevins who asked:
"Are your ponds lined with anything, like clay?" & "You said these ponds are built in the flatlands to prevent flooding; does this mean these areas used to be wetlands and and humans are controlling the water flow to regain land for development purposes?"

Thank you Michael! These questions were actually pretty tough but nothing that can't be answered with some research and a phone call or two. First, the two stormwater management ponds (SMPs) I'm studying do not have an impermeable layer, such as one of clay, lining the ponds. The goal of the ponds are to guide rainwater into them for collection and filtration before replenishing the groundwater. This does make the water susceptible to contamination though and there may be a source of contamination at Tuscawilla Park where levels of Total Phosphates have been recorded above the nutrient criterion levels.
To answer your second question, yes and no, but yes. It is known that when you destroy one environment, you're creating another and that is the case with both of my sites but they differ slightly. Tuscawilla Park was once a bald cypress dome way back before aerial photography had captured it as one. It was drained into these ponds and the once swampy terrain became a sort of upland habitat. The Halifax Plantation differs in that it went from a natural environment to a humans environment over the 50 years between the two aerials below. I was told that as Daytona Beach got more popular, the city thought a nice park you could walk through and play at would be more appealing to tourists than a swamp in the middle of the city. So regardless, yes, land was developed and these ponds are used to manage the water.

Halifax Plantation Pre-Development 2/6/1995

Halifax Plantation Post-Development 1/15/2014