Interim report on the progress of an inventory of artesian wells in Florida: leading to the enforcement of sections 370.051 - 370.54, Florida statues

One of the causes of lower artesian pressure, water waste and aquifer contamination is the misuse and insufficient care of artesian wells. In 1953, Senate Bill No. 57, entitled "An Act to Protect and Control the Artesian Waters of the State" (see Appendix) became a law. This law was passed through the efforts exerted by leading members of the Senate and the House of Representatives, who understood the need for a wise and controlled expenditure of our most valuable natural resource. The State Geologist and his authorized representatives were designated by this law to enforce this conservation measure; however, no financial provision was included for the 1953-55 biennium. The proposed program of the Florida Geological Survey for this biennium did not include the funds nor provide any full-time personnel for the enforcement of this statute. As a result, little actual work was accomplished during these two years, although much time was given to planning and discussion of the problem. Realizing that this program could provide additional basic data needed in the analysis of the water-supply problem, the State Geologist sought and was granted by the 1955 Legislature adequate funds with which to activate the first phase of the enforcement of Florida Statute No. 370.051-054. Enumerated below is a summary of the progress made on this investigation as outlined previously: 1. Data have been collected on 967 wildly flowing wells in 22 counties. 2. Chloride determinations have been run on 850 of the 967 wells. 3. Of the 967 wells, 554 have chlorides in excess of the 250 ppm, the upper limit assigned by the State Board of Health for public consumption. 4. Water escapes at the rate of 37, 762 gallons per minute from these 967 wells. This amounts to 54, 377, 280 gallons per day. The investigation is incomplete at this time; therefore, no final conclusions can be reached. However, from data already collected, the following recommendations are proposed: 1. That the present inventory of wildly flowing wells be completed for the entire State. 2. That the current inventory of wildly flowing wells be expanded at the conclusion of the present inventory to include all flowing wells. 3. That a complete statewide inventory program be established and conducted in cooperation with the Ground Water Branchof the U.S. Geological Survey. 4. That the enforcement functions as set down in Sections 370.051/.054, Florida Statutes, be separated from the program to collect water-resource data and that these functions be given to the Water Resources Department, if such is created (to be recommended by the Water Resources Study Commission in a water policy law presented to the 1957 Legislature). 5. That the research phase (well inventory) of the program remain under the direction of the Florida Geological Survey. (PDF contains 204 pages.)

Salvaging the freshwater ecosystems in Nigeria: great threat to sustainable fisheries and aquaculture development

Nigeria, the country of many rivers is also rich in lakes, and wetlands, sustainable and wise use of these inland aquatic ecosystem and water resources has become a matter of widespread and intense concern. Unhealthy freshwater ecosystems and seriously diminishing and unequal availability of quality freshwater call for high quality limnological research and expertise to underpin the enhancement of sustainable fisheries and aquaculture development.In every regard of national health, agriculture and economics, the continued over exploitation and misuse of finite freshwater resources is directly causal to the progressively deteriorating fish production and general standard of living.The integration of basic understanding of inland ecosystems with applied problems and their solutions should be of fundamental concern to all stakeholders in our freshwater resource. This is a basic element in creating an attractive and security ensured economic for investment in fisheries development, including aquaculture. This is the focus of this paper

Quantifying seascape structure: extending terrestrial spatial pattern metrics to the marine realm

Spatial pattern metrics have routinely been applied to characterize and quantify structural features of terrestrial landscapes and have demonstrated great utility in landscape ecology and conservation planning. The important role of spatial structure in ecology and management is now commonly recognized, and recent advances in marine remote sensing technology have facilitated the application of spatial pattern metrics to the marine environment. However, it is not yet clear whether concepts, metrics, and statistical techniques developed for terrestrial ecosystems are relevant for marine species and seascapes. To address this gap in our knowledge, we reviewed, synthesized, and evaluated the utility and application of spatial pattern metrics in the marine science literature over the past 30 yr (1980 to 2010). In total, 23 studies characterized seascape structure, of which 17 quantified spatial patterns using a 2-dimensional patch-mosaic model and 5 used a continuously varying 3-dimensional surface model. Most seascape studies followed terrestrial-based studies in their search for ecological patterns and applied or modified existing metrics. Only 1 truly unique metric was found (hydrodynamic aperture applied to Pacific atolls). While there are still relatively few studies using spatial pattern metrics in the marine environment, they have suffered from similar misuse as reported for terrestrial studies, such as the lack of a priori considerations or the problem of collinearity between metrics. Spatial pattern metrics offer great potential for ecological research and environmental management in marine systems, and future studies should focus on (1) the dynamic boundary between the land and sea; (2) quantifying 3-dimensional spatial patterns; and (3) assessing and monitoring seascape change.