Budget cuts could retreat the mouth of Tampa Bay

With all cuts in federal budgets and programs currently underway, including the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), there is one EPA program that will benefit the Tampa Bay Estuary and the 27 Estuaries nationwide. The National Estuary Program, which helps restore and protect our National Estuary, needs to be saved from budget cuts.

The mouth of the estuary is a coastal water where the freshwater river meets the seawater. They are surprisingly productive waters with diverse animal and plant populations. However, estuary health can be easily affected by nearby industries and human settlements. While here in Tampa Bay, the bay’s water quality has deteriorated significantly over decades due to sewage and industrial emissions. However, in the past decades, improvements in both sources of contamination have steadily improved the water quality of the bay.

In my personal experience of over 40 years of working on environmental issues in Tampa Bay, the Tampa Bay National Estuary Program is one of the most successful programs in achieving an improved, healthy bay. The science provided by this program linked high nitrogen in the Gulf Coast to increased algae growth, lowering oxygen levels and reducing the crop area of ​​sea grass in the Gulf. This science provided a target level that reduced nitrogen for local officials to shoot to bring the bay back to a healthy state.

Credits come from regulatory authorities and cities, counties and industries that have invested millions of dollars in pollution treatment, but many credits are due to the joint influence of the National Estuary Program, which serves as scientific advisors to both regulated and regulated communities. For their trustworthy and independent scientific research, the program promotes consensus and action towards outcomes that restore and protect the mouth of national importance.

While our coastal estuaries and communities still face immeasurable challenges, the National Estuary Programme is central to many of the successful coastal recovery seen throughout our nation. The improved water quality and sea grass coverage of Tampa Bay (and Sarasota Bay), reduced nutrient load and dramatic improvements in low oxygen water in Long Island Sound, New York/New Jersey Harbor and Narragansett Bay are some highlights.

In Tampa Bay, specifically, the Estuary Program works across its jurisdiction, funding infrastructure and remediation projects, leading to the benefits of additional water quality improvements in the Bay, and continues to set ambitious but realistic science-based goals for Tampa Bay’s recovery.

Additionally, all federal dollars reaching the local program are being used with an additional funding of around $7 to support the Bay’s protection and restoration efforts.

Let’s do everything we can to inform elected officials of the local and national interests of our national estuary program.

Dr. Rick Garity is former director of the Environmental Protection Committee in Hillsboro. He lives in Lakeland.