Over the past 25 years, alterations in the Naples Bay drainage basin coupled with poorly designed canal dredging projects have resulted in degraded water quality and aquatic habitat within the Bay. Urban infrastructure has severely reduced historic flow ways entering the Bay and increased the area of impervious surfaces. As a result, greater stormwater runoff volumes have elevated the amount of nutrients, pesticides, metals, and oil entering the Bay.

The South Florida Water Management District engaged Taylor Engineering to review existing water quality and hydrodynamic data and to collect new bathymetric and shoreline condition information for the Naples Bay study area. These data supported the District's goal of developing a system-wide model of Naples Bay to aid in the development of a management strategy to improve the health of the Bay's estuarine system.

Taylor Engineering compiled and reviewed existing hydrodynamic and water quality data provided by numerous local, state, and federal agencies. Statistical analyses identified valuable and interesting water quality and hydrodynamic trends, and helped identify data gaps. Based on these data, Taylor Engineering provided recommendations for further data collection efforts necessary to develop a scientifically-defensible model of the Bay.

Using aerial photograph interpretation and field investigation, Taylor Engineering identified and mapped shoreline conditions within the Naples Bay study area. Shoreline conditions generally consisted of manmade stabilization structures such as vertical seawalls and stone revetments, and natural shorelines including sandy beaches, mangroves, saltwater marshes, and mudflats.