Cooperative Monitoring, Informational Flow and
Management of Water Quality in Little Lagoon, AL
Dennis Hatfield1*, Barney Gass1, Hugh MacIntyre2, Justin D. Leifer3,4, Lucie Novoveska3,4, Alice Ortmann3,4, Kyeong Park3,4, William Burnett5, Bezhad Mortazavi3,6, Mark Acreman7, and
Robert S. Craft7
1Little Lagoon Preservation Society (LLPS), 2Dalhousie University (DU), 3Dauphin Island Sea Lab (DISL), 4University of South Alabama (USA), 5Florida State (FSU), 6University of Alabama
(UA), 7City of Gulf Shores, Alabama
Abstract
Little Lagoon, Alabama, is the site of a collaborative effort by researchers and students from five universities and volunteers from Little Lagoon Preservation Society (LLPS) to assess
water quality for science-based management. Water quality has been monitored bi-weekly at 4-5 sites in the lagoon since 2007 to describe and understand physical, chemical, and
biological interactions. The effort, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), MS-AL Sea Grant, and Alabama Department of Conservation (ADCNR), has enabled researchers
to pursue and test ideas generated from 3+ years of volunteer assisted research.
Funding
Funding for the research and collaborations between academic partners
and LLPS has come from state and federal agencies.
Lagoon volunteers, trained and supervised by academic partners, sample five sites along dominant gradients in water quality in the Lagoon. They measure DO, salinity, temperature,
pH, fecal coliform bacteria (FCB), and phytoplankton community composition. Further samples are collected for analysis of nutrients and microalgal pigments (HPLC). Community
composition is based on microscopic identification of net plankton as part of NOAA’s Phytoplankton Monitoring Network (PMN). Volunteers enter the data into two publiclyaccessible data bases. Physico-chemical and biological data are maintained by the Alabama Volunteer Phytoplankton Monitoring Network (ALPMN). Taxonomic data are also
submitted to PMN. Data analysis and interpretation concerning the effort are presented by researchers to LLPS members, the public, government officials, elected officials, press and
other stakeholders at quarterly LLPS membership meetings in Gulf Shores and in press releases. More detailed presentations by the researchers will be provided to all interested
parties in yearly one-day workshops.
Prior Funding
ADCNR
EPA Alabama Center for Estuarine Research
NOAA National Coastal Data Development Center
Present Funding ($1.2 million)
ADCNR
NOAA Sea Grant
US National Science Foundation
Mobile Bay National Estuary Program
Stakeholder education and facilitation of prudent management of Little Lagoon are primary goals of this effort. Rapid response management to protect the Lagoon during the
Discovery Horizon oil spill necessitated significant interaction between researchers, industry, community, and government. Two tidal passes that connect the Lagoon to the Gulf of
Mexico were effectively closed by City of Gulf Shores and FWS officials for nearly 4 months by constructing and maintaining sand berms across both channels (paid for and approved
by BP). The berms effectively prevented oil from entering Little Lagoon during oil landfall and were designed to facilitate both opening the pass to allow drainage during periods of
high rainfall and rapid re-closure during oil-contaminated flood tides. Sampling interval was decreased from every two weeks to every week based on concern with periodic,
anomalous, bacteria levels during this period. Data and discussion of water quality in the lagoon were regularly provided to the City of Gulf Shores and stakeholders by LLPS and
researchers during the closure. The data, researcher interpretations, and stakeholder communications were instrumental in a final decision to re-open Callaway Pass to tidal exchange.
• Dr Hugh MacIntyre
(Project Leader), Biooptical
and Population Modeling
Academic Research
•Research in Little Lagoon by MacIntyre’s lab started in 2005.
Collaboration with LLPS started in 2007.
• Research Summary- 1) Water quality in Little Lagoon is not
seriously compromised. Nutrient levels are comparable to Mobile
Bay, with no evidence for widespread hypoxia. 2) Microalgal
biomass is correlated with nutrient levels. Both groundwater and
sediments are likely sources of nutrients. 3) Lagoon is a hot-spot for
a toxic diatom (Pseudo-nitzschia spp.). Blooms are toxic but there
is no evidence for intoxication/ecological consequences. 4) Fecal
coliform bacteria are frequently well above regulatory thresholds.
Abundance not correlated with any parameter measured to date. See
presentations by Liefer, MacIntyre, Novoveská and Ortmann.
• Ongoing Research- 1) What mechanisms underlie variability in
nutrients in the lagoon? 2) What are the most likely origins of the
nutrients? 3) What is the relationship between nutrients, flushing
and microalgal community composition (i.e. Pseudo-nitzschia spp.
vs. other species)? 4) What are the causes of toxicity in Pseudonitzschia spp? 5) What are the likely origins of the fecal coliform
bacteria?
• Dr Alice Ortmann,
bacterial dynamics,
• Dr Kyeong Park,
hydrological
modeling
Phytoplankton and
Bacteria Counts
Sample and Data
Collection
NEWSLETTER
LLPS Quarterly Membership Meeting
2010
Tuesday, October 19,
Status of the Little Lagoon. The news media have been full of
reports on the impacts of the oil spill, some good, some bad.
What follows is Dennis Hatfield’s response to an email he received
forwarding an especially poor piece of video reporting.
Me-ma once told us “you don’t believe anything you hear, and
only half of what you see”. This is a totally irresponsible piece of
amateur journalism. It appears this individual has an axe to grind
with COGS. I would really appreciate you forwarding my
“alternate” opinion to as many of these folks on your e-mail as
you can.
Folks like Mayor Craft, Mark Acreman and others with the COGS,
Barney Gass-Pres. LLPS, and 8 LLPS water quality volunteers
supervised by several DISL researchers have worked tirelessly
since mid May monitoring Lagoon waters and the pass,
interpreting historical and real time data concerning health of the
lagoon, opening and closing it when necessary, and basically
preventing any Gulf water from entering the Lagoon till the recent
opening. Rapid response crisis management is the way things
went for most of the closure period. The decision to open the
pass was not crisis management, was well thought out, and
involved input from a number of knowledgeable
sources. Although consensus of scientific input, government
officials, and grass roots types was it was time to open the lagoon
for flushing, a conservative decision was made by the COGS to
maintain the “L shaped” pass configuration which allowed for
controlled drainage, easy monitoring during incoming tides, and
rapid closure if necessary based on oil sightings. The controlled
drainage effort was working but was then complicated by heavy
rains which rapidly pushed lagoon water levels to nearly 2’ above
normal. Water was up over our pier, yards were flooding in
numerous parts of lagoon front neighborhoods, and low lying
septic tank were being compromised by the high waters. The
pass and lagoon are also responsible for flooding/drainage of
thousands of affected acres in the Gulf State Park, the BNWR
Gator Lake, and ridge and swale topography in the west end of the
lagoon watershed, which further complicated decisions and the
effort. During the high water period a straight channel was
opened to the Gulf, the lagoon rapidly flushed over a period of 3
or 4 days, and normal tidal exchange has been the drill since.
• Justin Liefer, Pseudo-nitzschia
dynamics and community composition
• Lucie Novoveska, Alabama
Coordinator for NOAA PMN
• Dr Ruth Carmichael, d15N nutrient
dynamics
LLPS News
Letter-Response
to viral video
I have respectfully tangled with COGS on many issues. Not this
one. They get A+ from me. If I had to lower their grade from a 100
to a 99 it would be for not being vigilant enough with sloughing
channel wall erosion created by a fairly violent torrent of outgoing
water following the recent opening of the straight channel. Early
on in the movie the author holds up hands full of tar balls which
were from the eroding/sloughing pass channel walls which you
can see in the background in the video. The tar balls and small
mats are previously deposited “sedimentary oil” which were
eroded from those berm deposits. Time and nature have oxidized
and degraded them, which means they contain a high amount of
relatively low toxicity asphaltenes, and a low volume of high
toxicity volatiles (PAH’S). Also note the brown color of the
water. It is stained brown because of all the outgoing fresh water
(which is rich in tannin) during the filming, not oil.
Interestingly, before the pass was opened, 4 coastal experts were
queried on this and they and I shared the opinion that: 1) based
on greatly reduced oil in the system and the time the oil has had
to degrade (evaporation and biological degradation), opening the
pass was better than leaving it closed, 2) a small amount of sheen
and tar balls were likely to “get into the lagoon” with pass
opening, 3) the lagoon is currently a hot, oxidizing, microbial
water body which would likely easily consume small amounts of
oil getting into the system, 4) more oil is probably put into the
lagoon on a heavy boat and jet ski day by those engines than
would come into the lagoon now on a high tide. Certainly some,
probably a small amount, of oil made its way into the lagoon on
recent incoming tides. Most of it should be relatively benign,
degraded tar balls. Volatiles and sheen released during the
erosion of the sedimentary oil deposits probably got into the
lagoon as well. That amount was also likely minor and the lagoon
will consume it rapidly as it does with boat oil.
My perception on this is that many more people were screaming
to open the pass than wanted to keep it closed. Several have
accused us of “killing the lagoon” by keeping the pass closed so
long. I stick to my guns on this that the COGS captured a big
prize on this one by not letting the wolf into the lagoon during
critical oil landfall times and then some. BP and the city promised
to, and I believe they have “mined” the berms adjacent to the pass
channel which were responsible for contributing this sedimentary
oil to the system. This should mean minimal or no more episodes
like this. The sky is not falling and chicken little was a bit excited
and misguided here.
A strong
endorsement
from area’s
largest
newspaper
Outreach
Research findings are communicated to the public in
response to direct questions by email and through other
means:
Academic researchers give public presentations on the
research findings at LLPS’ quarterly meetings and will give
joint presentations in annual one-day workshops
LLPS
• Training- DISL, PMN-NOAA, AWW
• Data Collection- every two weeks, 5 sites, DO,
Salinity, Ph, WT, AT
• Sample Collection-phytoplankton net tow, bacteria,
whole water for HPLC
• Sample analysis- phytoplankton counts, bacteria
counts
• DB Entry- PMN-NOAA, DISL ALPMN
• Public Meetings/Education
• Participation w/COGS, ALDOT
•Venue for public meetings, educational guest
speakers
• Dr William Burnett,
groundwater dynamics
• Dr Bezhad Mortazavi and
• Rebecca Bernard, nutrient
dynamics and benthic coupling
Editorial,
Mobile
Press
Register
2/27/08
Data are archived in searchable databases at NOAA PMN
(http://www.chbr.noaa.gov/PMN/) and at DISL
(http://habs.disl.org/phytoplankton.html)
Deepwater Horizon Lagoon Water
Quality Stakeholder Distribution List
Training
DISL & PMNNOAA Data Entry
Stockpiling
sand for berm
Berm
construction
Science/LLPS team
State/Federal/Local Officials
Hugh MacIntyre
Bill Burnett
Alice Ortmann
Justin Leifer
Lucie Novoveska
Kyong Park
Bezhad Mortazavi
Rebecca Bernard
LaDon Swan
Barney Gass
Dennis Hatfield
Amy King
Phillip Hinesley
Steve Jones
Jason Dyken
Mark Acreman
Joe Garris
Phillip Harris
Carol Dorsey
Robert Craft
Jeremy Phillips
Charlie Baumhauer
Vince Calametti
Steve McMillan
Carolyn Doughty
A response to YouTube video commentary on opening Little
Lagoon Pass after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill was
circulated in email chains and posted on the LLPS website
(http://www.llps.us/newletters.html)
Research activities, collaboration between the academic
researchers and LLPS, and many items of interest have been
reported in the Mobile Register, The Islander, and LLPS
Quarterly newsletter.
Oil landfall imminent,
Callaway and Ivan pass
berms in place
Mobile
Press
RegisterSunday
2-17-08
LLPS Public Meetings Guest Speakers
Meeting
Speaker (s)
Affiliati
o
17-Jul-07
Lucie Novoveska
Kirsten Hartzell
Dr. Hugh MacIntyre
Bill Dickensen
Val Dickensen
Dennis Hatfield
Justin Liefer
Dr. Hugh MacIntyre
Dr. Scott Douglas
DISL
DISL
DISL
LLPS
LLPS
LLPS
DISL
DISL
USA
Dr. Geoff Tick
Justin Liefer
Dr. Hugh MacIntyre
Mayor and City
Council Candidates
Dr. George Crozier
Justin Leifer
Bart Christiaen
UA
DISL
DISL
17-Oct-07
22-Jan-08
This is what we avoided
Booms ineffective
due to high energy
4-Apr-08
22-Jul-08
Preparing 2nd berm for tropical protection
20-Apr-10
Vince Calametti
Mark Acreman
Dr. Hugh MacIntyre
20-Jul-10
Dr. William Walton
AU
Little Lagoon Bridge and Pass Redesign
Little Lagoon Bridge and Pass Redesign-City Perspective
Future Research Plans for Little Lagoon
Trying to Get a Grip on the Ecological Effects of the Oil Spill on Alabama's Coastal
Waters: Oysters as an Indicator
19-Oct-10
Roberta Swann
MBNEP
Proposed Baldwin County Watershed Coalition
20-Oct-09
Slack water
between berms
Berm vs. boom decision by COGS, involved input and coordination from
/with scientists, oversight, regulatory, grassroots, and legal entities
Adaptive Management: City of Gulf Shores Response to the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill
FWS-Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge had to close Ivan pass for full
Lagoon protection, FWS decision to berm and boom Ivan Pass, assist to
LLPS/COGS in logistics
Late April, oil landfall judged imminent
Booms installed at Callaway Pass, ineffective due to strong incoming and outgoing tides
Decision made to close passes using berms, involved City of Gulf Shores (COGS, lead organization), LLPS, ALDOT,
FWS, ADEM, Coast Guard, Baldwin County District Court, BP, academic researchers.
Mobile Press
RegisterWeds.
7-21-10
May 2nd Callaway Pass closed, Ivan Pass closed by FWS several days later
Continued biweekly sampling by LLPS volunteers and academic researchers to provide water quality data (DO, salinity,
temperature, bacteria) to decision makers and oversight officials on health of lagoon during closure.
Early July, sampling frequency increased to every week because of increased bacteria counts
July 14 pass reconfigured to “L” shape for controlled drainage of high waters caused by heavy rains, pass routed to
west then south for controlled drainage of high water, July 19 water levels returned to normal
August 29 pass was returned to “straight” configuration
Mid to late Sept bacterial numbers returned to pre-spill levels
Mobile Press
RegisterSunday
9-10-10
Pre Election Q&A
The Realities of Climate Change and Impacts to the Alabama Coast
One Year of Data Analysis from Little Lagoon
Sea Grass Restoration in Little Lagoon
Lessons Learned/Future Direction
High water due to heavy rains
Booms ineffective in high energy or high wave environment, absorbent booms somewhat effective in slack water in
channel between dual berms
Bacteria level high
Oversight approvals and temporary suspension of court order, ALDOT
relieved of court ordered obligation to maintain channel during crisis
Berms highly effective at preventing bulk oil from entering Lagoon, we were lucky no significant tropical weather
during crisis
Additional pass channel and shoal sand had to be rapidly dredged to
supply construction of berms
COGS declares State of Emergency, receives District Court approval to suspend court order
Phytoplankton, Finding the Evil Princess or a Tootsie Roll
Mapping Water Flows in Little Lagoon
Water Quality Update-Training
Hidden Neighbors, Life Under the Surface of Little Lagoon
Water Quality Upcoming Activities
Red Clay-A Pox on our Snow White Beaches
Water Quality Update
Research Plans
Living vs. Armored Shorelines
Characterizing Ground Water of South Baldwin County: the Freshwater Resource
Beneath our Feet
Continuous Parameter Measurements at 5 Locations in Little Lagoon
Nutrient Delivery and Micro Algal Dynamics in Little Lagoon
COGS
DISL
DISL
DISL
ALDO
T
COGS
DISL
20-Jan-09
21-Apr-09
Management
Topic/Title
“L” shaped channel highly successful at allowing for controlled drainage, facilitated rapid opening for drainage and
rapid closure during “oily” incoming tides and for tropical weather induced tides
Controlled drainage plan
Decision to add redundant berm for additional protection during tropical
induced higher than normal tides
Lagoon remained “healthy” during fairly long closure. Overall, surprisingly high salinities, dissolved oxygen good to
adequate, micro and mega flora and fauna do not appear to be significantly impacted
“L” shaped channel engineering for controlled drainage and rapid opening
and closing pass
Decision to reopen Lagoon to complete tidal exchange in late August appears to have been a good decision
Public perception management on closure effects, management decision to
err on side of caution vs. early opening of pass
“L” channel for controlled drain
Caught by Bill Munsell,
LLPS member 10-16-10
Some “sheen” and some degraded tar balls have gotten into the Lagoon since opening, this was anticipated, and appears
to be very much the lesser of two evils
Future-continued sampling and assessment of water column and sediment near pass for hydrocarbons and chemistry,
and trawl survey studies for comparison to historical data, determine likely source of bacteria
Open pass for tidal exchange
Monitoring and ready for
rapid closure on flood tide
Partial funding for this project
provided by the Alabama
Department of Conservation and
Natural Resources, State Lands
Division, Coastal Section, in part,
from a grant by the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration,
Office of Ocean and Coastal
Resource Management. Award
#:NA09NOS4190169"
Many diverse interests can and did work well together in a crisis mode