Originally published in Gulfshore Business by John Guerra on September 9, 2024 Under LOSOM, if there’s an active red tide in the Gulf and blue-green algae in the lake, the Army Corps can decide against releasing water from the 730-square-mile freshwater lake until...
Originally published on Boca Beacon by Garland Pollard on September 6, 2024 A half-million gallons of rainy sewage leaked onto the Gasparilla Island Water Authority plant grounds after Hurricane Debby. The spill was at 2:05 a.m. on Monday, Aug. 5. It did not go into...
Originally published in the Fort Myers News-Press by Chad Gillis on August 30, 2024 The waters in Matlacha Pass have cleared after post-Debby conditions caused a fish kill there. Tropical Storm Debby dropped several inches of rain across the region, and a lot of that...
Originally published in the Fort Myers News-Press by Chad Gillis on August 26, 2024 Calusa Waterkeeper Codty Pierce said only time will tell how well LOSOM works for the Caloosahatchee River. “We have yet to see how things are going to react,” Pierce said....
Recently, I was asked to speak on The Chamber of Southwest Florida’s water quality panel. The host, Peter Busch of NBC-2, asked each panelist to rate the current state of our water quality on a scale of 1-10. The responses from those directly responsible for...
Originally published on Fox4 by Andrew Shipley on August 23, 2024 “If it starts to go into one place, even if this is on the opposite end of the coast from us, we have to really start thinking about the big picture,” said Codty Pierce, Calusa Waterkeeper...
Originally published on Fox4 by Andrew Shipley on August 22, 2024 Water is so important to us in Southwest Florida. Water not only feeds our economy, but it also gives us recreation. But what is in our water? Every month the Calusa Waterkeeper tests our water for...
Originally published in the Fort Myers News-Press by Amy Bennett Williams on August 22, 2024 Once a taken-for-granted bankable asset, Southwest Florida’s degraded water quality is now a critical, contentious topic.. Water issues here have people scrambling for...
Originally published in the News-Press by Chad Gillis on August 22, 2024 Some environmental groups and residents fought the city over the issue, saying removing the lock will impact endangered species like the smalltooth sawfish, which breed and live near the lock....
Originally published in the Fort Myers News-Press by Chad Gillis on August 15, 2024 There’s a fish kill going on in Matlacha Pass, and some water experts think it’s due to a lack of oxygen in the water. Warm waters, the idea goes, have lowered oxygen...