Florida must act quickly to stop water pollution, lawmakers urge

Congresswomen are calling for Florida leaders to take swift action to control water pollution after an investigation by the Tampa Bay Times revealed that the massive death of hungry manatees in the Indian River Lagoon was the result of a wider crisis.

“Clean water is essential to our way of life. Manatees are the coal mine canary against bigger health issues,” Rep. Brian Mast, a Fort Pierce Republican who includes the South Lagoon, said in a statement. “The Florida Legislature needs to act immediately to stop the contamination of our waterways.”

It turns out that nearly one in four in Florida is contaminated by high levels of nitrogen or phosphorus. Or it shows a nasty indication that refers to chemical overload.

Agriculture and development – Florida’s biggest source of water pollution – is not bound by strict restrictions on nitrogen and phosphorus that flow from vast farms and city streets. Chemicals are spit out from fertilizers, purification systems, animal waste, and golf courses. Pollutants are fueled by algae flowers that kill fish and destroy the manatees in the sea grass bed, and countless other species depend on to survive.

Almost all the sea grass manatees may have died in the lagoon. In the lagoon, it is the most important home on the East Coast. The debilitated animal died in late 2020 and began washing. Hundreds have died over the course of several years.

“The lack of pollution, overdevelopment, heating environments, and lack of enforcement of environmental laws poses a great risk to everything that makes Florida special,” U.S. Rep. Kathy Caster said in a statement. “The Trump administration’s pro-porter agenda combined with loose enforcement at the state level will make it worse.”

Tampa Democrats have called on Floridians to demand change, like last year when they stopped plans by the Ron DeSantis administration to build hotels, golf courses and pickleball courts in state parks.

The governor’s office and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection did not reply to multiple requests for comment. Previously, the department praised the laws and funds supported by Desantis as progress towards restoring dirty waterways.

However, the Times discovered that monitoring the state’s water quality has been failing for a long time. More than half of the contaminated waterway reporters tested had worsened or did not improve over the last quarter century. About four in ten people showed elevated chemical levels, even after regulators stepped up efforts to reduce pollution.

State lawmakers, already half of this year’s legislative meeting, said officials need to do more.

“The data is very clear that Florida’s efforts to curb water pollution are very clear,” Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith of D-Orlando said in a statement. “What’s worse, even if the data proved that we didn’t meet our water quality goals, DEP says we’re doing well.”

Smith recalled an Environmental Protection Agency official and recalled suggestion earlier this year to lawmakers that the contaminated spring spring was improving. Smith asked the officials during the presentation and thought the water was getting worse.

After reading the Times Story, the senator said he would consider enforcing recommendations from the Blue Green Algae Task Force, a panel of scientists convened by scientists convened to provide guidance on water quality. Florida’s plan to reduce pollution should not properly track chemical contamination to its source, Smith said.

“We need to create a stronger plan to curb water pollution that we quickly adjust when we’re not meeting our goals,” he said. “That’s the only way we can make progress, but instead we’re backing down.”

State legislator Lindsay Cross, D-ST. Petersburg also said the nation should act to prevent another tragedy, such as death.

“That’s scary,” Cross said. “I think people should be furious and say it. We’re not going to make this happen again.”

Rep. Kelly Skidmore, a democratic ranking member of the House Natural Resources & Disaster Subcommittee, said DeSantis must empower state environmental agencies to act.

“Obviously we’re doing the wrong thing,” said Boca Raton’s Skidmore. “Who is the one leading the bill?”

Environmental advocates said the Times findings show that Florida leaders failed to fulfill their promise to protect the state’s lifeline waterways.

Jen Lomberg, who heads conversation group Waterkeeper Florida, said the state needs to give environmental regulators “tools and teeth” to implement water quality regulations.

“The more we solve this problem, the more difficult it will be to reverse it,” Romberg said.

John Paul “JP” Brooker, who leads advocacy in Ocean Conservancy’s Florida, called on DeSantis to increase the Environmental Protection Agency’s funding, encouraging regulators to limit pollution and invest more in proposals from the Blue Green Algae Task Force.

Representatives from Florida’s Congress suggested that more could be done at the federal level to support manatees and water quality.

The Mast at Fort Pierce Republican was fought against the release of contaminated water from Lake Okeechobee by the US Army Corps of Engineers. The lake is troubled by pollution and toxic blue-green algae. According to the Mast, if the water level gets too high, the Army will drain billions of gallons into the St. Lucie River. He told the Times that the Army should manage water “as a top priority in public health.”

Vern Buchanan, a US rep who is a Sarasota Republican, and Darren Soto, a Kissimmee Democrat, are among the co-sponsors of the bill that will make manatees a federal government’s endangered species.

“We must do more to protect these beautiful creatures, including improving the quality of our waterways,” Buchanan said in a statement in the Times.

Soto said in another statement that he is ready to help state leaders fight nitrogen and phosphorus pollution. “The report shows that Florida still has a long way to go to save waterways, threatened species and environmental treasures.”