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Board approves RFP for Wrigley’s monitoring station and amends Mississippi State contract to shift funds to nutrient monitoring
Summary
Supervisors authorized an RFP to site a continuous water-quality monitoring station at the Wrigleys inlet and approved an amendment reallocating Mississippi State University contract funds into additional nutrient monitoring to support a harmful-algal-bloom study and modeling work the county funded through the Mississippi Sound Coalition.
The Harrison County Board of Supervisors voted to advertise a request for proposals to install and operate a continuous water-quality monitoring station at the Rigleys (Wrigleys) inlet, and to approve an amendment to the county's contract with Mississippi State University/Northern Gulf Institute (NGI) reallocating funds toward expanded nutrient monitoring.
Gerald Blessing introduced the item as a funded line in the Gulf of Mexico Economic and Safety (GOMESA) grant administered through the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources; he said researchers had identified Wrigleys as a key location where inflow from Lake Pontchartrain and freshwater inputs into the sound converge.
Dr. Nickel, director at the Northern Gulf Institute and the contract principal investigator, told the board the monitoring station would supply continuous salinity, nutrient and algal-bloom data that modelers need for early warning and to quantify ecological tipping points. He said part one of the model study (ecological/tipping-point modeling) is near completion and undergoing peer review; the board heard that the modeling team wants more high-frequency nutrient data to complete part two of the scope.
Under the amendment the board approved, the county will move funds originally budgeted for a digital public platform (part three of the study) into expanded in-water nutrient and continuous monitoring (part two) so the scientific team can acquire the field data the models require. Dr. Nickel said the cost difference for a continuous station is justified because models perform much better with continuous monitoring than episodic sampling.
Supervisors approved the RFP advertisement and the contract amendment in separate votes. The board also discussed low-cost options for public-facing information: NGI offered to have interns or in-house staff develop a web interface at low cost, and the county said it would explore using in-house resources to publish monitoring results.
Next steps: staff will advertise the RFP for the Wrigleys monitoring station, receive proposals, and return to the board with a vendor recommendation. The amendment to the Mississippi State agreement was authorized and the board president was directed to execute the amendment documents.
The measure passed by voice vote with supervisors recorded as voting in favor.
