Geospatial insights provide the right data for cleaner rivers

Miami-Dade County in southeast Florida, has one of the largest populations in the state that covers 2,431 square miles and where 21 percent of the county is made up of numerous canals, rivers, beaches and marine environments. 

They faced challenges with elevated concentrations of Enterococci and E. coli bacteria that have historically been persistent in portions of Little River’s C-7 Canal. To combat this, they needed to develop a bacteria pollution control plan (BPCP) and provide services to construct a source identification sampling plan and series of reduction strategies to address the impairment and improve overall water quality. However, the source and quality of the data needed to be streamlined to meet project requirements quickly. 

Implementation of reduction strategies and identifying areas of point source pollution, effectively promotes human and ecological health. 

GHD Digital’s location intelligence team provided Miami-Dade County with a targeted approach to better understand and improve water quality. Using GIS, digital technologies and ESRI software, we provided easy to understand spatial deliverables that made project details more digestible for citizens and the county’s stakeholders. 

In addition, we helped provide data for the BPCP using multiple spatial components, including the analyses of Little River’s C-7 Canal WaterBody Identification (WBID) (i.e. the identifier for a waterbody segment that represents a unit for a specific watershed, waterbody or waterbody segment) in relation to utility infrastructure (water and sewer), building ages, historical imagery and historical data. 

Digital data collection assisted with ensuring accurate and readily available data. We created dashboards featuring the collected environmental and infrastructure data and visualised the project evolution. The technical 145-page BPCP report submitted to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) was effectively summarised and transformed into an interactive and digestible document that will be accessible to the community.

We also helped the county with an in-depth review of aerial photographs and created a stakeholder “Maps on Table” (MOT) event and a “Walk the WBID” event. During the virtual MOT event a total of 31 representatives participated in providing expansive local knowledge of faecal indicator bacteria (FIB) sources and identified 95 areas on the map that were potential contributing bacteria sources. Live edits were created using Esri software, which seamlessly integrated the comments received from stakeholders to the platform in real time. 

A few days later, a Walk the WBID event was arranged, allowing stakeholders, Miami-Dade County representatives and our teams to physically walk Little River’s C-7 Canal WBID study area. During the event, organised routes and field stops were planned leveraging the information collected during the internal reviews and MOT event. Digital data collection tools captured accurate and real time information that could be verified in conjunction with existing spatial information hosted in the web map.

Timely and accurate data collection and analysis are vital to projects and programs planned and implemented by municipalities in Little River’s C-7 Canal WBID. These programs aim to reduce the impact that human activities have on nature and the impact of FIB in the WBID. The plans included repairs and replacement of aging sewer collection infrastructure, the implementation of operation and maintenance programs for the sewer collection system, septic to sewer conversion projects and stormwater improvements to reduce non-point source contribution through run-off.

This solution provided cost savings and streamlined data collection, which increased and enhanced the data that was collected. Now, Miami-Dade County has the correct data to describe the environmental, spatial, developmental and sociological challenges as well as results that were addressed during the assessment of water quality for the County. These projects and data improvements better inform decision-making and the ability to enhance human and environmental health.

Connect with us to learn more about leveraging geospatial insights to streamline decision-making and improve environmental outcomes.