Water and sediment quality in threetidal bayous located near Pensacola, Florida, wereassessed during 1993–1995. The primary objective wasto determine the environmental condition of therelatively small urban bayous by comparing thechemical quality of the sediments and surface waterwith published guidelines and criteria developed toprotect marine life. Surface water concentrations ofmost potential toxicants such as heavy metals,organochloride pesticides, PAHs and PCBs were usuallybelow method detection limits. The major exception tothis trend was for copper which consistently exceededFlorida and National acute and chronic water qualitycriteria. Nickel, cadmium and chromium intermittentlyexceeded these criteria. Sediment contamination wassite-specific and chemically diverse. Theconcentrations of as many as 17 compounds exceededproposed Florida sediment quality assessmentguidelines indicating the potential for adversebiological effects. Nutrient concentrations, with oneexception, were below average levels found in otherFlorida estuaries. Seasonal variation in contaminantconcentrations for sediment collected from the samesampling station was less than an order of magnitude. The differences in the concentrations of the sameanalytes as measured for the multiple samplingstations located within the same bayou varied 1 to 2orders of magnitude and over 2 orders of magnitude forthe 20 sampling stations located in the three bayous. A within-bayou sediment contaminant gradient wasevident; sediment quality generally improved seaward.