- December 2018 - 

CALUSA WATERKEEPER'S
“CALL TO ACTION”
TO COMBAT HARMFUL ALGAE BLOOMS

The toxic blue-green algae (cyanobacteria) stretching from Lake Okeechobee to our west coast is the result of decades of failed water policy implementation.  A perfect storm of lax enforcement and underfunding at the local, state and national levels has culminated in the historic harmful algae blooms (HABs) that plagued our region this year.

Calusa Waterkeeper (CWK) calls on citizens and stakeholders to urge our political leaders to take the following ten actions:

         I.      Promptly declare a State of Emergency when HABs appear in our waterways.

        II.      Relaunch and fund the Florida HAB Task Force (TF) defunded in 2001 (but still enabled by Florida Statute 379.2271) with the objective of adopting a modern response strategy, similar to that employed by other states with numeric thresholds and actionable protocols to guide state agencies on HABs.

       III.      When HABs appear, post bilingual signs and erect temporary barriers warning the public of potential dangers at all public access points along the Caloosahatchee and other waterbodies.  Resolve confusing jurisdictional questions as to which agency has this responsibility.

      IV.      Urge the Florida Environmental Regulation Commission to classify cyanotoxins as regulated contaminants in Florida with input from the re-instated Florida HAB TF.

       V.      Revise Florida stormwater treatment regulations to increase non-point stormwater runoff treatment capacity as part of the criteria in the “Design Requirements for Stormwater Treatment Systems in Florida.”  Greater nutrient sequestering capacity will address the increased frequency of extreme storm events and resulting nutrient pollution.

      VI.      Urge the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) to revise the total maximum daily load (TMDL) Prioritization Criteria adopted in 2015 to increase the number of nutrient impaired water bodies selected for TMDL implementation.  This will require increased funding for implementation.  Only 15 of FL’s 54 basins are selected for TMDL prioritization during each five-year cycle.  It may take up to 20 years for TMDL implementation to begin under the current criteria.

     VII.      Revise FDEP Basin Management Action Plans (BMAPs) for nutrient-impaired waterbodies with higher nutrient load reduction requirements reflecting current loading rates.  As is, some BMAPs rely on nutrient load reductions that are determined based on land use data from a decade or more ago.

    VIII.      The Lake Okeechobee Regulation Schedule (LORS) is in need of revision. What was intended as a 5-year interim schedule in 2008 should be revised with more equity for protecting the estuaries from too much and too little flow.

      IX.      Implement ALL options in the University of Florida Water Institute’s technical review “Options to Reduce High Volume Freshwater Flows to the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee Estuaries and Move More Water from Lake Okeechobee to the Southern Everglades” (March 2015).

       X.      Provide a water quality treatment component for water discharged from the C-43 Reservoir.

The HABs that plagued SW Florida this year were of historic magnitude.  We are at a tipping point.  If political leaders fail to take action, history is doomed to repeat itself year after year, causing catastrophic harm to our ecosystem and our economy. The science is clear on what needs to be done; what has been lacking is the political will to enact the regulation and legislation required to begin to reverse these problems.  We look to you, as informed citizens, to proactively communicate your water quality concerns to newly elected officials. It will take a groundswell of voices if we are to affect change in Tallahassee during this coming legislative session.