The Future of our Canals

by John R. Clark

Most of us moved to Ramrod Key to enjoy waterfront living. Water is the essence and the strength of our lifestyle and prosperity.  Most of us live along canals originally dredged out in 1959 and 1960.  Although there are variations, the canals presently average 7 feet in depth and the main canal averages 6 feet in depth. The side canals tend to be at their shallowest where they intersect with the main canal, which has a minimum depth of around 4 feet at lower tides.

We have another 50 or so homes on West Indies Drive, along the shoreline of Newfound Harbor. We are water people. Keeping all the waters around us clean and productive is essential to our happiness and health and to maintaining high property values. To do this we must exercise care and vigilance.

For many years Breezeswept canal side home owners have worked to keep the canals clean by avoiding trash disposal in the water and by eliminating pollution from boats in the canals. In our newsletters, we have emphasized the need for residents to avoid dumping fish guts and carcasses, yard wastes, fertilizers and other contaminants in the canals, because these are very polluting. Also concerted effort has been made to keep septic tanks in good working condition and to choose detergents with the lowest levels of phosphate so as to reduce algal growth in the canals. But we still have a long way to go on pollution prevention.

In addition, BBECA experimented with aerators (bubblers) placed on the bottom of the Block 16 and 17 canals (Cayman-Haiti and Haiti-West Indies) in 1990, apparently with promising results. Water quality seemed better but because purchasing and maintaining the aeration units proved expensive and troublesome, this initiative was short lived.

Another campaign did succeed, partially. In 1979 BBECA member Hubert Davis, an engineer, proposed to open the end of the first canal on Ramrod (Blocks 1 and 3, between Trinidad and Antigua Lanes) to the sea by placing a four-foot diameter culvert under West Indies Drive that extended eastward 160 feet out to Newfound Harbor. This project, completed in 1982, cost about $15,000 which was raised from Ramrod home owners and businesses.

The culvert opened up the Breezeswept canal system, allowing water to flow through the main canal between open water on the northeast and south, and eliminating the dead end where debris once accumulated.

Several attempts to flush the culvert have been made over the years, most recently in May and June of 2002. From observations made at both ends of the culvert, it appeared that silt, coral rock and other debris had accumulated, blocking nearly half of the culvert. It is supposed that much of the sediment was driven into the culvert by Hurricane Georges.  After an unsuccessful cleanout attempt by the county, BBECA hired a contractor to perform the task.  Divers swam into the pipe with large pressure hoses, and freed the culvert of a large quantity of debris.  Today, water flows freely through the culvert with each tide change.

Because of these community efforts to keep our canals clean, Ramrod’s near shore and canal water quality is moderately good. Many of our canals are safe enough for swimming.
As reported in the September 2001 BBECA Newsletter, samples taken by BBECA in July from three canals between Guadeloupe and Dominica showed bacterial contamination levels well below state standards. Fecal coliform was measured at 20 CPU vs the state standard of 800 CPU, and the enterococcus bacteria levels varied from 4 to 36 vs the state standard of 104.

On September 21st, BBECA did further tests in cooperation with the University of Florida, taking three fecal coliform samples from canals and three from Newfound Harbor. The average of our 3 canal samples was 25 MPN fecal coliform, considerably below the state limit. The average of the 3 Newfound Harbor samples was even lower, at 3.3 MPN. These measures indicate that Breezeswept waters have low bacterial contamination.

Note:  The University of Florida measures in MPN units (Most Probable Number in 100 ml. of water. This is equivalent to CPU numbers.

In additional work, BBECA measured dissolved oxygen (DO) in the canals and harbor for a full year (Spring 2001 to Spring 2002) in cooperation with the University of Florida and Florida International University/The Nature Conservancy. DO is critical to all marine life and is a very important standard used by government agencies. The standard is that all waters shall have at least 4.0 PPM (parts per million) of DO. BBECA samples average 6.5 PPM in the canals and 8.25 PPM in Newfound Harbor. The conclusion is that our waters have adequate DO, but our goal is to raise the DO levels even higher by keeping our canals clean and free-flowing. This will result in a major benefit to marine life.

If we can continue to show water quality test results like these, we may be able to avoid having to install costly sewage treatment package plants or having to connect to a central Lower Keys system in the future.

The BBECA Water Quality Committee will continue to monitor water quality in our canals and near shore waters, thanks to the generous donations from our members.   We urge all residents to do your part to keep our waters clean by following the recommendations offered in Good Neighbor Hints.