Water Quality in Southwest Florida
Updated August 7, 2023 |
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Nutrient
pollution in our water is at critical stage
The
perfect storm of local nutrient pollution is forming by the combination of
outdated stormwater and wastewater infrastructure in our county, useless
state level water quality management policies, a rapidly growing
population adding daily to human caused sources of nutrient pollution, the
failure of county government to adopt and commit to proven standards of
nutrient levels for our estuaries, and our county government not committing
to the significant investment needed to upgrade stormwater and wastewater
infrastructure. The prescription is an estuary rescue plan. Click here to read the entire op-ed. |
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It’s Charlotte County’s Time to Act – Will they Blow it?Posted 4/24/2023 The
Charlotte Sun editorial of Feb. 23 (Charlotte commissioners face huge
challenges) rightly points out the glaring omission of water quality as a
top strategic priority for our commissioners. We
know the health of our estuaries is essential to our economy and lifestyles.
The estuaries (lower Lemon Bay, Charlotte Harbor, the tidal Peace and Myakka rivers) provide the basis for the quality
of life that causes many of us to live here. Our
estuaries are impaired and at a tipping point. If unchecked, it will cause an
economic and lifestyle crisis and therefore deserves as much attention as
affordable housing, rapid growth stressing infrastructure, and overcrowded
roads. This is not about Red Tide (a saltwater phenomenon) or blue green
algae (a freshwater issue). It’s about human caused nutrient pollution in our
brackish estuaries that kills sea grass, removes oxygen needed for aquatic
life, and causes blooms of macroalgae (seaweed). According
to county Administrator Hector Flores (Challenges and Opportunities,
The Daily Sun Dec. 31), the county will put a plan in place this year
to use the water quality data being collected by (Water Quality Manager)
Brandon Moody’s monitoring and reporting system. This could be a major
decision, if done right. However, what
the county has in mind seems to be woefully inadequate. The recently released Statement of Work for taking up this decision sets the underwhelming goal of “establishing mechanisms for reducing anthropogenic impacts in the county’s waters.” Our situation is too urgent to waste time on such abstractions. What we need is nothing short of a goal, and a county commitment, to achieve the estuary specific standards for Charlotte’s estuaries. These standards were established over a decade ago with support from local experts. Unless we aim to achieve them with urgency, the tipping point will be too far in the rear-view mirror to recover from. The SOW also strives to take on projects that can be funded by grants. The kind of major infrastructure upgrades we need to stop the flow of nutrients into our estuaries from our inadequate stormwater and wastewater systems will not be accomplished on the cheap. We are going to need major investments. It’s clear that the old ways of managing water quality are not effective. A new, proactive, science and data based, transparent and well-funded approach is necessary. The Peace & Myakka Waterkeeper has proposed just such a plan. How we can commit to and begin restoring our estuaries is detailed in the full report: Managing Nutrients to Save Charlotte County’s Estuaries and Economy. It’s a plan with hope, unlike the misguided path the county is taking now. The trail the county is on does not make water quality a strategic priority, and it has no hope of restoring the estuaries that are vital to our economy and lifestyles. What can you do to keep the Commissioners from jumping off
the wrong cliff? Read and
digest the P&MWK
report, then tell the Commissioners to commit to: ·
Establishing the existing
estuary nutrient standards as water quality goals for our estuaries. ·
Managing wastewater and
stormwater systems so that our waterways meet those standards – most
effectively using a proactive, data-driven, science-based decision process. ·
Keeping elected officials and
the public up to date about what and where the problems are, what solutions
are implemented where, what the results and successes are and how much the
actions cost. ·
Sustaining and periodically
upgrading budgetary support for these water quality programs. |
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Managing Nutrients to Save Charlotte County’s Estuaries and Economy
How we can commit to and begin restoring our estuaries is detailed in the full report: Managing Nutrients to Save Charlotte County’s Estuaries and Economy. |
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Pine Island’s Estuaries – A Big Picture: Ideas for Safe-Guarding Our Special WaterwaysThis presentation to the Pine Island ROAR (Rise Up Agitate
Resist) on July 16, 2022, by estuary scientist Judy Ott and local ecologist
Coty Keller explained: • Why Our Estuaries are Essential • How We Monitor Our Estuaries • Why Our Estuaries are Threatened • What the Causes & Solutions Are • What Actions are Needed Now • Take Home Messages Click here to see Pine Island’s Estuaries – A Big Picture: Ideas for Safe-Guarding Our Special Waterways |
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How Can We Preserve Tippecanoe Bay – for Future Generations & Wildlife?This presentation, April 9, 2022, by estuary scientist Judy Ott
explains ·
Where is Tippecanoe? ·
What Makes it Special? ·
Why is it Threatened? ·
How Can We Help? ·
Take Home Messages Click here to see How Can We Preserve Tippecanoe Bay – for Future Generations & Wildlife? |
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Charlotte’s Estuary Health & Water Quality Declining RapidlyThis presentation April 9, 2022, explains ·
How do we know we are at a tipping point in
Charlotte estuaries? ·
What’s
at stake? ·
Local
Causes ·
Local
Solutions ·
What
we each can do ·
Take
home messages Click here to see Charlotte’s Estuary Health & Water Quality Declining Rapidly |
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Lemon Bay – It’s Complicated: Ideas for Restoring & Safeguarding Our Special EstuaryLemon Bay is special for many reasons. Who is watching out for this valuable natural resource? Why is Lemon Bay Threatened? What are the Causes & Solutions? How We Can Each Help? These questions and more were addressed at a presentation to the Lemon Bay Conservancy in February 2021. Click here to see the slide show for Lemon Bay – It’s Complicated: Ideas for Restoring & Safeguarding Our Special Estuary. |
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Charlotte County’s
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Ideas
for Enhancing Charlotte County’s Management of Our Exceptional Estuaries,
Waterways and Water Quality – Now
This paper, posted in October 2019, provides ideas for
improving the county’s capabilities for restoring and safeguarding our
invaluable estuaries and waterways before irreparable damage occurs. It is
intended to alert and inform local community members about our water quality
crisis in the making, as well as start discussions and encourage actions
which protect and restore our waterways. Charlotte County is a special place
with a water-based lifestyle but it is changing rapidly. Correcting our water
quality problems now and planning for future growth are essential for our
economy and waterways over the long-term. |
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Preserve Tippecanoe
Bay, and Beyond A primary purpose of this
report, posted in May 2021, is to publicly air a more complete story about a
proposal to dredge through the Charlotte Harbor Aquatic Preserve and State
Park to connect Manchester Waterway to the Myakka River. A complete, accurate
and objective accounting of the project is needed for 2 reasons: (1) The
advocates for this project are promoting it in way that is incomplete and
misleading, creating a false picture of project costs and benefits. And (2)
there has been no public disclosure of the negative impacts this proposal
would, if approved and implemented, have on the human and natural community
at large. This report also serves as a red flag to
alert the public that our county government has lost any commitment to
restoring and/or sustaining our natural world, for which many of us live
here. Click here to see Preserve Tippecanoe
Bay, and Beyond |
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Water Quality Crisis- local solutions are available Red tide and blue-green algae were
bad in the summer of 2018. Experts tell
us it is going to get worse in the future unless we act. Check this opinion article to see that Solutions are
available. |
Local Estuary Water
Quality: challenges, solutions For those of us who live in Charlotte County, water quality is about the estuary. We often focus on our beaches, but without a healthy estuary, our beaches – and all our livelihoods- are doomed. The estuary is where freshwater and saltwater mix. Charlotte Harbor, the tidal Myakka and Peace rivers, and Lemon Bay are a valuable habitat for nursery fisheries. They also provide the economic and lifestyle basis for our communities. We count on the estuary for our recreational fishing, seafood, boating, birding, and the aesthetics of our lives here. An alarming pattern is emerging that indicates we are not paying due attention to water quality in the estuary. The time has come to act to safeguard and preserve this precious resource. Click here to see slides from a presentation that explains the origins of the problem and a set of solutions. |
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First
Step to Protect our Estuary and our Economy The estuary is where salt water from the ocean meets freshwater from land. It is brackish water. The estuaries are valuable habitat for nursery fisheries. They also provide the economic and lifestyle basis for our communities in southwest Florida. We count on the estuary for our recreational fishing, seafood, boating, birding, and the aesthetics of our lives here. Our estuary in Charlotte County is comprised of the tidal Myakka and Peace Rivers, Lemon Bay and Charlotte Harbor.
Evidence from fish, seagrass and outside agencies tell us
that our estuary is a tipping point - We have a water quality crisis in
the making. A local team, made up of a fisheries ecologist, estuary
scientist and local ecologist have concluded that Charlotte County should establish
a comprehensive local water quality monitoring & reporting program. The presentation to the county staff is available for viewing by clicking here. |
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Charlotte
County is Wrestling with How to Manage Water Quality Three Charlotte County community leaders and scientists
are interested in sustaining the County’s waters, economy, and lifestyle for
future generations. They have compiled a chronology that
provides a summary of some of Charlotte County’s relevant water quality
related events over the past several years. The events span from the
decades-old issue of septic tank/sewers through the June 2019 Budget Workshop
for the Board of County Commissioners. These events form the foundation of
the ideas and objectivity of a forthcoming discussion paper. Click here to see the Chronology of Water Quality Related Events in Charlotte County |
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