Why Florida's waters are fouled year after year

[The Blue Flower]

https://www.surfrider.org/coastal-blog/entry/deja-vu-all-over-again-why-floridas-waters-are-fouled-year-after-year

Florida’s southwest coast is grappling with the largest, longest red tide in more than a decade. Dead fish, sea turtles and manatees are littering the sugar sand beaches of Lee and Collier counties. Last weekend nearly 4,000 dead fish were counted on Sanibel beaches. Florida’s southeast coast is similarly struggling with massive blue-green algae blooms. A recent news report stated that at least 15 people were treated at emergency rooms in St. Lucie County after making contact with the algal blooms.

I hesitated to write this blog post, because what I really wanted to do was copy and paste the post I wrote on algal blooms in Florida two years ago. That post explained the hydrology of Florida’s famed River of Grass, how we carved up the wetlands in South Florida for flood control and development, and why the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee estuaries were being decimated by nutrient pollution. The summer of 2016, we dubbed Martin, St. Lucie and Palm Beach counties the “guacamole coast.” Countless manatees, dolphins, fish, and birds washed up dead on our beaches. Coastal businesses closed, homes were shuttered, people were sickened, and we were outraged. The Florida Legislature promised action, the Governor declared a state of emergency, and everyone pointed fingers. Bolstered by massive public pressure to buy land south of Lake Okeechobee, Senate President Negron proposed a large, shallow reservoir of 60,000 acres to store and clean polluted waters from the north. Naturally by the time the legislature passed the bill, it had dwindled to 10,500 acres on primarily state-owned land. The loss of acreage means that the reservoir will have to be 23-feet deep, raising concerns from scientists and environmental organizations that the reservoir might not function at all. Regardless, the proposal still lacks some major funding and is years away from completion. Which brings us back to today. In short, two years after our “lost summer” nothing has changed.

Race to the Bottom

Aside from the obvious destruction of Florida’s natural hydrology, how did we get here? Why do we have algal blooms in rivers, lakes, and estuaries year after year, and why is the problem worse than ever?
At its heart, this issue is about nutrient pollution- too much nitrogen and phosphorus washing into our water bodies. Nutrient pollution comes from a number of sources, including: agriculture, residential and urban runoff, and wastewater. So let’s take a look at how our state government has handled these major sources of pollution. (much more at link)