What’s in the water? Volunteers dive in to help researchers answer that question

Southwest Florida has seen its fair share of water woes, from blue-green algae to red tide to bacteria.

Now, a joint project between the Mound House, Florida Gulf Coast University, and the Fort Myers Beach Chamber of Commerce will work to test our Gulf waters and see what’s below the surface.

Dr. Mike Parsons, a professor of marine science at the Water School at FGCU and director of FGCU’s Vester Field Station, explained the project.

“We started this back in 2019 and working with folks at the Mound House on Fort Myers Beach. It’s really a community engagement, citizen science awareness type project. The residents are concerned and care about water quality,” said Parsons.

The sampling occurs on Saturday, June 8, 2024, World Ocean Day.

“It’s great having it on Ocean’s Day and a Saturday morning. It might be a little hot, but it’ll still be fun,” said Parsons.

World Ocean Day is “about how we can create a better future with an abundant ocean and a stable climate by working together,” according to worldoceanday.org.

This is a project that gives us a snapshot of water quality
at one moment in time, all the way around
Estero Island and all around Fort Myers Beach.

Dr. Mike Parsons, FGCU Water School

“We’re concentrating on nutrients. We also look at salinity and temperature, chlorophyll, which would be algae. But it’s looking at some of these broader water quality measures. So not specifically, red tide or harmful algae,” added Parsons.

Everyone is asked to gather at Mound House at 9:30 a.m. Sampling will take place at 10 a.m.

“We’ll hand out the sampling bottles. Then, we want people to sample around 10 a.m. So that’s generally when the low tide will be its lowest,” said Parsons, explaining the process.

Some analysis will happen immediately, and results will be available within a few hours. Other samples must be returned to The Water School at FGCU, with results expected in July.

If you’d like to help, register here.