| Stormwater Treatment Areas (STAs) are key component in the Everglades restoration program and are critical to achieve long-term water quality goals to reduce nutrient loads to the Everglades Protection Area. The South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD; District) has constructed about 40,000 acres of STAs on former agricultural lands at five strategic locations to reduce nutrient and contaminant loads into the water conservation areas (WCAs). The US Army Corps constructed a sixth STA consisting of about 5,000 acres of wetlands. The District is responsible for operating, maintaining and optimizing the performance of all 45,000 acres of STAs to retain and store incoming nutrients and contaminants. The six STAs that are in operation include: STA-1E (2 years) and STA-1W (12 years), STA-2 (6 years), STA-3/4 (3 years), STA-5 (6 years), and STA-6 (9 years). The STAs consist of an assemblage of soil, vegetation, water, microbes, vertebrates and invertebrates. Most STAs are monitored for water flow, water quality, vegetation composition, and soil characteristics. Soils are an especially important component of these systems, as soils provide long-term storage for nutrients such as phosphorus (P) and in the short-term, ,soil-water nutrient dynamics can control nutrient concentrations in overlying waters. The overall objectives of this project are to: 1. Compile, organize, and evaluate existing soil datasets for the STAs 2. If necessary, develop a revised soil sampling program that can be used during system start-up and continuous monitoring 3. Identify soil biogeochemical indicators that can be used to track changes in soil characteristics of STAs. These indicators would provide information for more effective management of soils, to store phosphors on a long-term basis. |
