Canal Science Symposium Addresses Water Quality Worries

The Coastal Habitat and Water Quality Initiative (C-HAWQ) held its long awaited symposium on canal science at the Collier County Public Library Marco Island Branch on Thursday afternoon, August 28.

Over 200 guests pre-registered via C-HAWQ’s website and quickly filled the Rose Hall room. Once occupancy was reached, additional guests and walk-ins were directed to a sister site set up at the Marco Island Center for the Arts, where a live stream of the event was displayed.

An impressive display of refreshments awaited the attendees, including freshly roasted coffee from MICRo.

There were a total of seven speakers and panelists, experts in their respective fields: Dr. Holden Harris of the University of Florida, Dr. Christopher Stallings of the University of South Florida College of Marine Sciences, Dr. Mauricio Arias from the University of South Florida Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Dr. David Kaplan from the University of Florida Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences, Logan Davies from the C-HAWQ team, TJ Snopkowski from the Friends of Rookery Bay National Estuary Research Reserve, and Mike Sipos, a marine extension agent from Florida Sea Grant UF/IFAS/Collier County Extension.

The agenda began promptly at 2:00 PM with C-HAWQ’s Vice Executive Director Emily Begin welcoming everyone and giving an overview on both the organization and the order of topics.

Begin kicked off the agenda with some facts:

• Southwest Florida has the highest concentration of residential canals on Earth.
• Florida has 4,500 miles of residential canal shoreline.
• On Marco Island, there are 119.6 miles of residential canal shoreline and over 70 miles of canal waterways.

She shared that the purpose of the symposium is to help educate the community on the science of their canals, address the knowledge gaps, and promote the necessary research and nature-based solutions to improve their water quality.

Begin dove into the background of C-HAWQ in that the non-profit was founded with the goal of advancing scientific understanding of the canals and supporting local governments in solving the issues.

C-HAWQ operates on four pillars:

Research. “We've researched the entire global history of residential canals in Florida,” said Begin. “We've mapped every linear mile of residential canal in the state of Florida in Geographic Information System (GIS). We've been accepted into a nationally recognized scientific work group where we will help lead 15 scientists over two years explore these systems. And, most importantly, we fund graduate students that are to research every project that we help communities envision before, during, and after construction.”

Non-Profit Access. “We don't believe that people should have to pay for the truth about their own backyards. That doesn't happen when research is behind a paywall or when a private firm's findings are proprietary because somebody paid for the answer and now owns it. All of our resources and help are free: our residential canal dashboard, our GIS layer, our research, and today's event,” Begin said.

Technical Assistance: “Local governments understand their communities' problems, but what they often don't have is the funding or the staff to explore ideas or to find solutions that are based in science,” Begin explained.

“Our team and our advisory network help them to design, fund, and build projects that are researched at every stage. And when we can, we direct them towards nature-based solutions, because oftentimes these are very cost-effective and they're easier to maintain with things like living shorelines, mangroves, oyster reefs. This creates cleaner water not just for the people that are living around it, but also for the animals and the wildlife, the fish, the birds.”

Community Education. “We all experience the water here differently. That's something that no report can ever talk about – your experience. That's why we bring the science directly to you,” Begin said.

Harris spoke first on the history of Marco Island canals and where they came from.

Stallings presented on water quality in residential canals, and where the science says they stand today. Arias, Kaplan, and Davies covered ‘Nature Based Solutions’, and the options on what can be done.

A break was issued midway through the agenda, along with two Q and A segments where the response from the community-filled room was evident with the line-up of hands waiting their turn.

“I was interested, intrigued, and curious about the kind of work they're doing and especially the idea of having science-forward decision-making,” said Kaplan before the start of the symposium. “As a professor, I'd love to answer interesting questions, but it'd be even better if they were useful, right?”

“The thing is that whenever you find a really hard problem that a lot of people are interested in, it’s never ‘there’s just one answer’,” said Kaplan, who hopes residents can leave the event with a better understanding and knowledge on how to restore functions of their canals and their own artificially constructed ecosystem.

The event closed by offering a moderated panel with the scientists and local experts, joined by Snopkowski and Sipos, who gave further insight into their own research, experiences, and ideas. The floor was opened for the attendees to have the chance to voice their own concerns, opinions, and inquire further.

The symposium was only the first step, with C-HAWQ already planning for more educational opportunities within the community with their Wednesday Night Workshops through September, where they will be diving deeper into the science of canals with different topics:

September 9 – Citizen Science

September 16 – Fisheries and Habitat

A full recording of the August 28 Canal Science Symposium, Q and A, and panel is available on C-HAWQ’s website: www.chawq.org.

Registration for the FREE workshops and FREE water quality testing of your canal on your dock is available on the website.