UNF releases State of the River report

The University of North Florida released its 2021 State of the Lower St. Johns River Basin Report. Jacksonville’s Environmental Protection Board funded the 372-page document.

The findings of the report included:

• Trends in total phosphorus levels are worsening amid rising phosphorus levels during the 2016-20 period. In June 2021, new rulemaking that takes biosolids into account will come into effect.

• Freshwater harmful algal blooms are an ongoing phenomenon driven by hard-to-control factors such as nutrient inputs, habitat alterations and global climate change.

• Salinity continues to be unsatisfactory in the basin due to its impacts, despite recent storms over the past four years

that have contributed freshwater to the system.

• Submerged aquatic vegetation, in terms of grass bed parameters, has largely declined in several regions in the basin

due in part to an anomalous weather pattern over the last four years: severe drought followed by significant storms.

• Wetlands continue to be lost due to development pressures, and the use of mitigation banking to compensate for their loss has its own set of inherent problems.

• The number of non-native species in the basin rose from 90 to 92, and studies indicate a lack of public awareness of the impacts of non-native species in Florida.

The report added that the main waterway of the lower basin, extending from the confluence of the St. Johns and Ocklawaha rivers south of Palatka to Mayport, remains acceptable for boating and fishing. However, water quality in the river’s tributaries is too poor to allow the safe consumption of fish or crabs.

The report states that pollution in the tributaries threatens human health, the economy, and the ecosystems that support plants, animals and recreation. Run-off from roads, residential and commercial development, failing septic tanks, and agriculture are significant contributors to the pollution in the LSJRB. Contamination by metals, pesticides, and PCBs also remains a serious concern.