The Estero Bay Basin is located within CHNEP and spans 359.6 square miles. The basin contains 46 named lakes/ponds, 17 named rivers/streams/canals and 2 named bays/bayous. Estero Bay is the first Aquatic Preserve in Florida. The western border consists of a chain of barrier islands.

Estero Bay, also referred to as the Everglades West Coast Watershed, is a shallow, subtropical lagoon (11,317 acres) separated from the Gulf by barrier islands. Seagrass beds are common in the bay, but high turbidity restricts seagrasses to shallow depths.

May 14, 2009 · Basin Management Action Plan in the Everglades West Coast Basin for the implementation of Total Daily Maximum Loads for Dissolved Oxygen.

The Estero Bay Watershed is located within CHNEP and spans 359.6 square miles. The watershed contains 46 named lakes/ponds, 17 named rivers/streams/canals and 2 named bays/bayous. Estero Bay is the first Aquatic Preserve in Florida.

Estero Bay has long been recognized as one of Florida’s significant natural resources. The Bay was designated as the State’s first Aquatic Preserve. The Bay’s watershed also has a long history of both pre-Columbian and modern settlement and agriculture.

Estero Bay is the first Aquatic Preserve in Florida. The western border consists of a chain of barrier islands. Estero Bay has significant freshwater inputs from small rivers and weak tidal exchange due to the restricted size of the four main inlets.

The Estero River is a 6.4-mile-long (10.3 km) [1] waterway in south Lee County, Florida, United States, near the village of Estero. It flows from east to west, emptying into Estero Bay , an inlet of the Gulf of Mexico .

Estero Bay is a basin of interest by the Army Corps of Engineers and the SFWMD for the Southwest Florida Feasibility Study to support the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan.

The Spaniards evidently first explored this inlet (even though Vancouver may have earlier passed by it), and found the lagoon or basin at the end of it, consequently naming the whole "Ensenada del Estero" ("Bay of the Lagoon)".

In addition to the Water Atlas, the CHNEP is now creating periodic Water Quality Status Fact Sheets - easy-to-understand snapshots of nutrient and bacteria levels (two of the most prevalent types of pollution) in each of the basins in the CHNEP study area.