Northern Coastal Basin

The Northern Coastal Basin is located on the northern 

Atlantic coast of Florida. The NCB extends nearly 100 

miles from lower Duval County, just south of the urban 

center of Jacksonville, Fla., south through the coastal 

watersheds of St. Johns, Flagler and Volusia counties 

to Ponce de Leon Inlet, near the city of New Smyrna 

Beach.

The St. Johns River Water Management District 

established the basin program in 1995 in response to 

concerns about the impacts of population growth and 

development on water quality in the basin. The basin 

covers all the watersheds that drain toward the Atlantic 

coast between the Spruce Creek watershed near 

Ponce Inlet in Volusia County and the Guana River 

watershed in northern St. Johns County.

Recognizing the problems

Negative impacts range from stormwater runoff to 

leaking septic systems to wakes from an increasing number of recreational boaters. Through 

District-sponsored workshops, local, regional, state and federal agencies have came together to 

address flood relief needs and to confront the perceived deterioration of coastal saltmarsh 

resources and water quality, particularly in shellfish harvesting areas. The need was underscored 

by several coastal algae bloom events and when the Florida Department of Environmental 

Protection (DEP) listed several water bodies in the basin as not having proper water quality to 

meet their designated uses.

The NCB SWIM Plan

With assistance from local governments and agencies, the District developed a watershed-based 

Surface Water Improvement and Management (SWIM) Plan to enhance, restore and manage the 

water quality and wetland resources within the basin estuaries.

The District’s Governing Board adopted the plan in 2003 and the Northern Coastal Basin was 

designated as an official SWIM program. The SWIM Plan is being updated and expected to be 

completed in 2010. The existing plan includes five initiatives:

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A white ibis.

Students enjoy a canoe outing on a creek at the Pellicer Creek 

Conservation Area, where they conduct water quality sampling 

as part of their outdoor classroom experience.

Water quality — The District and its partners 

have established a water quality monitoring 

network in the basin and, where necessary, 

design and implement additional efforts to plan, 

track and evaluate cooperative watershed 

management initiatives.

Watershed master planning — Includes 

tracking and evaluation of stormwater 

management. Using hydrologic and screening 

models, stormwater treatment needs and priority 

areas have been identified, stormwater retrofit 

initiative projects can be tracked and stormwater 

treatment proposals can be evaluated and 

refined.

Stormwater retrofit and master plan implementation — Initiative includes facilitating the 

development, refinement and implementation of a prioritized stormwater retrofit program, 

focusing on areas built prior to stormwater regulations adopted in 1983. The District also 

encourages and provides support for the development of local government stormwater 

utilities and land acquisition programs, provides technical support for specific projects and 

watershed initiatives, and helps evaluate federal and state funding sources to facilitate the 

securing of support from other partnering agency and programs.

Compliance and rule enforcement

— The District works with its partners 

and community leaders to collect and 

evaluate compliance information from 

existing permitted stormwater quality 

treatment systems. Results may be 

used to increase the effectiveness of 

compliance measures and to assist 

refinement of treatment and 

management techniques. Efforts 

include the coordination on 

establishment of pollutant load 

reduction goals (PLRGs) for the 

District and DEP’s total maximum 

daily load initiative and may include 

initiatives for support for expansion of 

the Outstanding Florida Water designation and establishment of Special Basin Designations 

with the Northern Coastal Basin watersheds.

Resource assessment, protection and restoration — Initiative involves the collection, 

mapping and evaluation of resource and habitat data sets and the development and 

implementation of resource restoration, enhancement and management goals and 

opportunities in the region.

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Styles Creek near Princess Place Preserve within the Pellicer 

Creek Conservation Area.

Active restoration and management plans have been developed and are being implemented for 

disturbed estuary habitats, including historical saltmarshes filled by dredge spoils from creation of 

the Intracoastal Waterway, spoil piles associated with dragline ditches created by extensive 

mosquito control activities and restoration of impoundment dike walls back to historical saltmarsh.

 The District coordinates with 15 local governments and regional, state and federal agencies in the 

watershed to monitor and assess estuary health, respond to current issues, and address future 

management needs. Interagency work groups are guiding efforts to develop and monitor resource 

baselines and to coordinate resources and funding for development and implementation of 

regional watershed management initiatives.

Assessing water quality

In addition, a number of water bodies in the 

basin are listed by the U.S. Environmental 

Protection Agency (303d list) as not having 

sufficient water quality to meet their 

designated uses. The District is legislatively 

mandated to assess these water bodies and 

determine the potential need for 

establishment and implementation of 

PLRGs. Through a series of workshops and 

public forums, management agencies, local 

governments and stakeholders were 

requested to identify issues and provide 

listings of reports and related studies for the 

portions of the basin within their jurisdiction. This was used for development of an initial NCB 

Reconnaissance Report (Bonnie Holub and Associates 1998). The Reconnaissance Report was 

used as a resource guide in development of the basin SWIM Plan the District.

Northern Coastal Basin planning units

The Northern Coastal Basin covers four “planning units,” which can be an individual, usually large, 

tributary basin or a group of small adjacent primary tributary basins with similar characteristics. The 

major planning units comprising the basin, from north to south, are the Tolomato River (9D), the 

Matanzas River (9C), Pellicer Creek (9B), and the Halifax River (9A). For the purposes of the 

management plan, the Tolomato and Matanzas river basins are treated as one basin and are 

referred to as Tolomato/Matanzas. This combination provides general consistency with the federal 

Guana-Tolomato-Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve (GTMNERR) Program, which 

encompasses parts of the estuaries in both of these planning units.

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A green tree frog blends in with its environment.

The Tolomato/Matanzas River planning unit is located within northeast Florida, in portions of 

Duval, St. Johns and Flagler counties, and has a contributing drainage area of approximately 

127,000 acres, within 37 basins. Portions of the Tolomato/Matanzas River planning unit are 

designated as Class II waters, which is the standard for commercial and recreational shellfish 

harvesting. In 1995, extensive shellfish harvesting areas were re-classified from “conditionally 

approved” to “conditionally restricted” for shellfish harvesting due to high coliform bacteria levels. 

The net result was a closure of virtually all the primary shellfish harvesting areas available for 

either commercial sale or recreational usage.

The Tolomato River north of St. Augustine has good but degrading water quality, and urban runoff 

and other sources of sediment load impact the Tolomato/Matanzas River planning unit. It has a 

contributing drainage area of approximately 102,000 acres. The system, as a whole, has high 

average total suspended solids and somewhat elevated turbidity. Overall development in the 

planning unit and the corresponding increase in human-related activities may be the causes of 

increased fecal coliform bacteria levels and other water quality parameters in the receiving waters.

The Pellicer Creek planning unit is located south of St. Augustine and includes southern St. Johns 

County and northern Flagler County. Pellicer Creek, which forms the boundary between St. Johns 

and Flagler counties, is the only natural watershed drainage feature in this planning unit. Pellicer 

Creek is designated by the state of Florida as an Outstanding Florida Water (OFW). The Pellicer 

Creek planning unit consists of vast wetlands, many miles of which were drained for pine 

plantations or real estate development, and to reduce mosquito breeding sites. Commercial 

shellfishing for oysters and clams has historically occurred in the southern St. Johns County 

portion of this planning unit.

Pellicer Creek is a 303(d) listed water body with a 

variety of water quality substances exceeding limits, 

including lead, nutrients, coliform bacteria, dissolved 

oxygen and iron. The man-made canals of Palm 

Coast are also collectively identified as a 303(d) listed 

water body. The water quality parameters of concern 

at Palm Coast are cadmium, lead, selenium, nutrients, 

coliforms, dissolved oxygen, silver and thallium.

The Halifax River planning unit includes portions of 

Flagler and Volusia counties along the northeast 

Florida coast and encompasses an area of nearly 208,000 acres, within 33 basins. Major drainage 

into the estuary comes from Bulow Creek, the Tomoka River and Spruce Creek, and their natural 

tributaries. Rose Bay, which is a large embayment partially isolated from the main part of the 

Halifax River by an abandoned causeway and the present U.S. 1 causeway, also contributes 

drainage to the Halifax River. Both the Tomoka River and Spruce Creek basins are listed as 

OFWs.

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© 2011 St. Johns River Water Management District

The Halifax River unit has several 303(d) listed water bodies, including the Halifax River for 

nutrients, coliform bacteria, copper, lead and iron. Rose Bay is listed for nutrients, coliform bacteria 

and dissolved oxygen. The Tomoka River is listed for lead, nutrients and iron. The B-19 canal 

network is listed for nutrients and dissolved oxygen and Spruce Creek, with a variety of 

constituents exceeding state water quality criteria, is listed for lead, nutrients, coliform bacteria, 

dissolved oxygen and iron.

Updated on 5-26-2010

St. Johns River Water Management District 

4049 Reid Street, Palatka, FL 32177 

(800) 725-5922

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