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Use the tools below to access the data presented on the Atlas and apply it to your own projects and reports.

Creek Conditions

Sarasota County has 17 tidally-influenced creeks that connect to its coastal bay systems. Learn about water quality conditions in their freshwater and marine components

Seagrass Survey Program Seagrass Survey Program

Seagrass survey volunteers boat or kayak Sarasota's bays and take note of things like the type of seagrass they see. Seagrass is vital to maintaining healthy aquatic ecosystems, stabilizing shorelines and providing food and shelter for a variety of wildlife including scallops. The information gathered by seagrass survey volunteers allows scientists to better understand and manage these important ecosystems. Many volunteers find surveying seagrass fun, easy and rewarding.
Requirements: Attend a two hour training session and be available a few days during the months of February or August. It is preferred that all volunteers have their own GPS, boat or kayak. However, effort will be made to pair those who do not have the above equipment with those that do.

Water Quality Concerns

How water quality afffects fishing, shellfish harvesting, and recreation

Bay Conditions Bay Conditions

How healthy are our coastal waterways? View reports on the conditions of Sarasota's six major bay systems.

Watershed Management Plans Watershed Management Plans

A watershed management plan defines and addresses existing or future water quality problems. Experience has shown that effective watershed management includes active participation from stakeholders, analysis of the specific causes and sources of water quality problems, identification of measurable water quality goals, and implementation of specific actions needed to solve those problems.

Beach Action Plan

Find information about Sarasota County beaches, and about what steps the County and its partners are taking to protect beachgoers from bacteria exposure and avert "No-Swim Advisories".

Briarwood Stormwater Pollution Load Reduction Report

The Briarwood Stormwater Treatment Facility is operated by Sarasota County. Its continuous wet detention system removes nutrients and suspended solids from the 65-acre watershed surrounding it.

Coastal Watershed Wiki Coastal Watershed Wiki

The Sarasota County Water Atlas has a new Wiki page to gather and discuss coastal watershed issues. Explore the wiki either by finding a topic or a geographic region of interest.

Community Resources

Improve water quality in your community waterways so you can have more birds, more fish – and more fun!

Flood Protection

Sarasota County Flood Protection

Historical Narratives Historical Narratives

Oral histories created by students at New College for Sarasota County.

Low Impact Design (LID)

Commercial Low Impact Design (LID), sometimes called Green Infrastructure, treats rainwater as an asset rather than a liability, encouraging the capture and use of rainwater on site.

NPDES Stormwater Program

The Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) is a federal program designed ot reduce stormwater pollutant discharges to receiving waters of the United States.

Oysters

Learn more about the eastern oyster, Crassotrea virginica, a commercially and ecologically important mollusk that is also a good bioindicator of water quality in estuarine habitats.

Recreation

Water Body Recreation Page

Sarasota Captured Photo Gallery

Sarasota County Environmental Services enlisted the help of Ringling College of Art and Design photography students in order to create an extensive photography catalog of Sarasota's water bodies. Their photos provide a historical record as well as a free catalog of photographs for both staff and the community. Thanks to this internship there are now hundreds of photographs that accurately and artistically capture the beauty of Sarasota's waterways.

Scallops

Sarasota County Scallop Monitoring & Volunteer Programs

Stormwater Education

Learn more about stormwater systems.

Stream Restoration Projects

Sarasota County is working to improve the health of its tidal creeks. Learn about recent stream restoration projects here.

Student / Teacher Resources

Formal and informal educators and their students will find sources of interesting and useful information on these pages to help them better understand Sarasota County's watery habitats.

Tidal Stream Assessments

Southwest Florida's tidal creeks are the vital hydrologic link between estuaries and their watersheds. These assessments of selected creeks characterize their vegetation, bathymetry and bottom hardness.

TMDLs

Sarasota County Impaired Waters and TMDLs

Watershed Pollutant Loading

View and export model results that estimate monthly pollutant loads for each of Sarasota's 9 major bay systems.

Neighborhood Environmental Stewardship Team (NEST) Neighborhood Environmental Stewardship Team (NEST)

Neighborhood Environmental Stewardship Team (NEST) concept is based on the idea of promoting neighborhood involvement in environmentally friendly projects to protect and restore our water resources. The NEST program projects focus on providing watershed education and getting neighbors involved in activities that improve their neighborhoods and enhance their watershed. The program goal is to help citizens and neighborhoods become advocates and champions for the watersheds in which they live.