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Port Royal Sound Foundation reports healthy waterways but flags declining salinity; volunteer monitoring expanded

Hilton Head Island Chamber of Commerce Power Hour · February 5, 2026
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Summary

Courtney Kimmel, director of conservation at the Port Royal Sound Foundation, said the watershed (about 1,500 square miles across Beaufort, Jasper, Hampton and Allendale counties) remains generally healthy but shows declining salinity trends in some creeks. The foundation launched a state'approved volunteer water'quality program with USCB and is building a data portal and marsh monitoring to improve local decision'making.

Courtney Kimmel, director of conservation at the Port Royal Sound Foundation, said the foundation's 2022 assessment of two decades of monitoring data shows the Port Royal Sound watershed is generally healthy but that some subwatersheds are showing changes that warrant attention, notably declining salinity in Broad Creek and other tributaries.

"That linear regression line is flagging for us, a concern in the watershed that salinity levels are decreasing," Kimmel said, and added that the trend points to…

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