The Choctawhatchee Basin Alliance (CBA) presented its 2024 coastal dune-lake water-quality monitoring results, reporting monthly citizen-science sampling across 18 water bodies and highlighting a multiyear increase in total phosphorus at four lakes.

Kayla Wingard, CBA monitoring coordinator, outlined the programs methods: trained volunteers and CBA staff collect monthly field measures (temperature, dissolved oxygen, conductivity/salinity, pH, turbidity) and submit nutrient samples analyzed through University of Floridas LakeWatch for total phosphorus, total nitrogen and chlorophyll a. The 2024 dataset was summarized as a new annual update to long-term baselines maintained for some lakes for more than 20 years.

CBAs 2024 summary showed that most coastal dune lakes fall in low-to-moderate nutrient ranges and are classified as oligotrophic or mesotrophic overall. However, a 10-year trend analysis (2015 2024) flagged statistically significant increases in total phosphorus at Allen Lake, Powell, Stalworth and Western Lake. Wingard said those increases did not always correlate with rising chlorophyll or declining dissolved oxygen, and that causes vary lake by lake: "For example, with Western Lake we see increasing phosphorus, decreasing nitrogen, and increase in salinity," she said (01:46:55). That pattern can be associated with increased saltwater exchange in some dune lakes but not in freshwater-locked lakes like Allen.

Board members urged CBA to produce more public-friendly, lake-specific summaries or a "report card" that shows whether each lake is improving, stable or declining relative to its baseline. Staff and board discussed the potential to commission an updated environmental assessment similar to the 2018 study to re-evaluate protections and trends. Melinda said county Coastal Dune Lake funds could be a potential source to procure such an assessment if the board directs staff to pursue it.

Why it matters: Long-term monitoring detects trends that can inform targeted restoration, homeowner outreach and grant priorities. The board emphasized a need to translate technical results into clear public messages and to identify next steps for lakes with upward phosphorus trends.

Board action: No formal board vote on water-quality remedies was taken; members asked staff and CBA to explore public-facing summary materials and potential reassessment funding.