Water quality status and trends are part of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection's Integrated Water Resources Monitoring network. The program characterizes watershed conditions (status) and determines whether those conditions are changing over time (trends). The network is used to evaluate water resources statewide and is reported in the 305(b) statewide assessment.
Waterbodies have been selected for this monitoring network if: 1) 1990 and 1992 report 305(b) assessments showed poor, fair, or unknown water quality in the watershed, and 2) there was an absence of recent data (latest 5 year period). For waterbodies classified as unknown, priority was given to areas with expected threats or impairments.
For 1998 data, the entire state was subdivided into 4,934 watersheds. For 2000 data, 5,126 watersheds were delineated.