2.7.13.1. About Goodbys Creek
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- East of the St. Johns River opposite NAS Jacksonville
- Primary Land Use: Residential
- Current TMDL reports:
Fecal Coliform with BMAP - 2022 Verified Impairment for Iron (2326A/2326B)
- WBID Area: 5.1 sq. mi.
Beneficial Use: Class III F/M
(2326A Recreational – Freshwater, 2326B Recreational – Marine)
2.7.13.2. Data sources
Data were historically downloaded from the FL STORET website (DEP 2010f), with recent data downloaded from WIN WAVES (DEP 2022f). Data were filtered based on the stations in the Goodbys Creek WBID 2326, 2326A (freshwater), and 2326B (marine) (DEP 2023b) shown above. The filtered dataset reflects water column concentrations and was used to generate Table 2.18.
2.7.13.3. Discussion
Water quality data for Goodbys Creek are shown in Table 2.18. Previous average phosphorus levels in Goodbys Creek exceeded the updated WQC (EPA 2010b), but the average phosphorus levels between 2020 and 2021 were lower than the WQC (no nutrient data were available in 2022). FDEP added the marine portion of Goodbys Creek (2326B) to its study list for dissolved oxygen in 2020 (DEP 2020f). Average dissolved oxygen levels in both the freshwater and marine portions of Goodbys Creek were above the respective WQC from 2020 to 2022, although more than 25% of individual samples were below the dissolved oxygen WQC in the marine reach (2326B). Chlorophyll-a concentrations in the marine reach exceeded the WQC in every sample measured from 2020 to 2021, but no chlorophyll-a data were available in 2022. The freshwater reach of Goodbys Creek (2326A) was verified as Impaired for elevated iron concentrations based on the number of exceedances for the sample size, although no iron measurements were reported 2020-2022 (DEP 2020g). The marine reach (2326B) is also verified as impaired for iron (DEP 2022), and the marine reach has exceeded the iron WQC in all but one sample 2020-2022, with average levels triple the WQC in 2021-2022. FDEP has assigned a medium priority for the development of a TMDL to address iron levels in Goodbys Creek.
Average fecal indicator bacteria levels exceeded the reference value in 2020-2022 in both marine and freshwater reaches. A TMDL report is available for fecal coliform in Goodbys Creek (Wainwright 2005b), with an 87% reduction of anthropogenic fecal coliform loading. (Note: the data analyses in the TMDL are based on different criteria than those used in this report). Subsequently, a BMAP for Goodbys Creek was legally adopted in 2009 (DEP 2009b). In 2018, FDEP piloted microbial source tracking strategies in selected impaired waterbodies. They found that the strategies used could be used to narrow down areas suspected of containing sources that actively contribute fecal indicating bacteria to water in order to identify and remediate them, but this work is resource-intensive. Based on this work, WBID 2326A in Goodbys Creek was suspected to have sources of untreated human waste present, and WBID 2326B was known to have sources of untreated human waste present (DEP 2019a). Additional information about fecal coliform in the tributaries can be found in Section 2.6 and Table 2.3. In 2020, the freshwater portion of Goodbys Creek was added to FDEP’s study list to monitor the response in fecal coliform (E. coli) levels to ongoing restoration activities taking place as part of the existing BMAP (DEP 2020f).
No recent measurements were available in WIN between 2020 and 2022 for the freshwater reach (2326A) for the following parameters: Chlorophyll-a, Arsenic, Cadmium, Copper, Iron, Lead, Nickel, Silver, Zinc.
Historical water quality data for Goodbys Creek are available in previous versions of the River Report.
Table 2.18 Water quality data for Goodbys Creek.
| Water Quality | Average and Number of Samples º | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Parameter | Criteria | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
| Dissolved Oxygen (mg/L) | ≥34% sat. (≥3.0) FW | 5.39 (1 of 10 samples) | 5.95 (1 of 10 samples) | 5.02 ± 0.32 (0 of 11 samples) |
| ≥4.0 SW | 5.45 (0 of 9 samples) | 6.70 (1 of 14 samples) | 5.29 ± 0.46 (6 of 19 samples) |
|
| Total Nitrogen (mg/L) | <1.54‡ | 0.92 (0 of 4 samples) | 0.82 (0 of 3 samples) | Not available |
| Total Phosphorus (mg/L) | <0.12‡ | 0.11 (1 of 4 samples) | 0.10 (1 of 10 samples) | Not available |
| Chlorophyll-a (µg/L) | 5.4‡ SW | 18.45 (4 of 4 samples) | 24.03 (10 of 10 samples) | Not available |
| Arsenic (µg/L) | ≤50 SW | 2.35 (0 of 4 samples) | 3.15 (0 of 5 samples) | 2.78 ± 0.25 (0 of 12 samples) |
| Cadmium (µg/L) | <8.8 SW | 0.01 (0 of 4 samples) | 0.03 (0 of 5 samples) | 0.02 ± 0.004 (0 of 12 samples) |
| Copper (µg/L) | <3.7 SW | 1.81 (0 of 4 samples) | 1.72 (0 of 5 samples) | 1.46 ± 0.15 (0 of 12 samples) |
| Iron (mg/L) | <0.3 SW | 0.58 (4 of 4 samples) | 1.03 (5 of 5 samples) | 1.00 ± 0.13 (11 of 12 samples) |
| Lead (µg/L) | <8.5 SW | 0.71 (0 of 4 samples) | 0.44 (0 of 5 samples) | 0.41 ± 0.05 (0 of 12 samples) |
| Nickel (µg/L) | <8.3 SW | 0.25 (0 of 4 samples) | 0.45 (0 of 5 samples) | 0.52 ± 0.12 (0 of 12 samples) |
| Silver (µg/L) | <0.92 SW | 0.01 (0 of 4 samples) | 0.01 (0 of 5 samples) | 0.01 ± 0.002 (0 of 12 samples) |
| Zinc (µg/L) | <86 SW | 5.00 (0 of 4 samples) | 13.00 (0 of 5 samples) | 6.25 ± 1.25 (0 of 12 samples) |
| Fecal Indicator Bacteria (E. coli) (CFU/100 mL) | E. coli <410 FW | 770 (10 of 18 samples) | 640 (12 of 17 samples) | 1294 ± 188 (9 of 9 samples) |
| E. coli <410 SW | 304 ± 78 (1 of 4 samples) |
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| Enterococci <130 SW | 521 ± 240 (9 of 9 samples) |
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| Turbidity (NTU) | <29 | 6.13 (0 of 4 samples) | 6.36 (0 of 5 samples) | Not available |
° = Number of samples below Water Quality Criteria for Dissolved Oxygen; Number of samples above Water Quality Criteria for all other parameters.
FW = freshwater; SW = saltwater (marine). Values denoted with (*) indicate a proposed criterion, which has not yet been adopted.
Values denoted with (‡) are reference values based on EPA criteria (EPA 2010b), but the water body is not regulated by this standard.