Overview
Water & Air supported Seminole County over a six-year contract period by supplementing their staff with environmental professionals through a continuing services contract covering a variety of environmental specialties that included: permitting and compliance, water quality monitoring and analyses, mitigation services, listed species surveys, environmental monitoring and contamination assessments. Water & Air was assigned 36 task orders including: wetland delineation and permitting for a park expansion, gopher tortoise surveys and relocations for road and trail expansions, Consumptive Use Permit (CUP) compliance monitoring for potable wells, petroleum contamination and assessment for county-owned lands, taxonomic verification of a macroinvertebrate reference collection for water quality assessment studies, compliance inspection for County-owned stormwater ponds.
Task Summary
- Monitored for Consumptive Use Permit Compliance — Water & Air provided weekly groundwater testing and monitoring services for CUP 8230, as required by the St. Johns River Water Management District. This work involved collecting groundwater quality samples from a network of 17 saline/brackish water intrusion monitoring wells and three groundwater supply wells.
- Relocated Emma Road Gopher Tortoises — As part of a road expansion project, ecologists conducted a gopher tortoise survey; obtained a Fish and Wildlife Commission permit; and relocated resident tortoises to an approved recipient site.
- Provided Macroinvertebrate Services — Water & Air provided taxonomic identification of organisms collected for water quality analyses associated with Lake Condition and Stream Condition Indices; taxonomic verification identified by County biologists; and verification of specimens in the County voucher collection.
Results
Water & Air staff provided expertise in conducting routine environmental monitoring tasks freeing over-stretched County staff resources. Prompt response to gopher tortoise encroachment during ongoing construction saved the County costly construction delays. Expert taxonomic support in the verification of macroinvertebrate voucher specimens provided a reliable reference collection for Seminole County’s water quality specialists.
