Discharge Data (Tamiami Canal)

The data are from the following four stations: Station 02288800 - Tamiami Canal Outlets, Monroe to Carnestown; Station 02288900 - Tamiami Canal Outlets, 40-Mile Bend to Monroe, near Miami, FL; Station 02289040 - Tamiami Canal Outlets, Levee 67A to 40-Mile Bend, near Miami, FL; Station 02289060 - Tamiami Canal Outlets, Levee 30 to Levee 67A, near Miami, FL. The data were compiled from records from 1986 to 1999 in the USGS Ft. Lauderdale, FL office of the Water Resources Discipline in 2000. Each station has numerous individual flow measurements at gages that were used in the calculation of the mean flow for each station. The data were collected by USGS personnel and the gages are maintained and operated by USGS Ft. Lauderdale office personnel.

Canals are a major water-delivery component of the south Florida ecosystem. They interact with surrounding flow systems and waterbodies, either directly through structure discharges and levee overflows or indirectly through levee seepage and leakage, and thereby quantitatively affect wetland hydroperiods as well as estuarine salinities. Knowledge of this flow interaction, as well as timing, extent, and duration of inundation that it contributes to, is needed to identify and eliminate any potential adverse effects of altered flow conditions and transported constituents on vegetation and biota. Comprehensive analytical tools and methods are needed to assess the effects of nutrient and contaminant loads from agricultural and urban run-off entering canals and thereby conveyed into connected wetlands and other adjoining coastal ecosystems. These data from the individual gages were transferred to electronic form to provide a better understanding of the distribution of flow from north to south under the Tamiami Trail to aid in decisions about future changes to flow along the Trail.