Cudjoe Gardens Property Owners Assn., Inc.

Water Quality Testing

Dec 25, 2000

John Ulrich announced a program to test the quality of water
in the Gardens' canals and surrounding waters. Volunteers from
the neighborhood will collect water samples and store them.
Everett Bozard, Richard Mikkelsen, Jim Molloy, Bill Scheidel and
Skip Speller have already indicated an interest in the program.
The samples will be periodically tested by the University of
Florida Lakewatch Program. Daniel J. Willis, the program
coordinator, will collect the frozen samples once every four
months and provide training for the volunteers.
Sugarloaf Shores has had such a program in place for two
years. The objective of the first phase was to establish levels
of nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus), bacteria, turbidity and
salinity in the waters surrounding the island.
It was felt to be necessary because the master plan for
wastewater treatment in Monroe County does not provide for
obtaining any data!
Basically, nutrient levels turned out to be extremely low
and fecal coliform levels are either non-detectable or far below
levels of concern. (Tests carried out in the Gardens' canals
before constructing the culverts indicated similarly low levels
of fecal coliform.)
The second phase explained the lack of pollution, by noting
that water evaporating from the soil and from vegetation accounts
for all the water and nutrients leaving a household site.