State looks to reduce Caloosahatchee pollution

ARTICLE REFERENCE: State looks to reduce Caloosahatchee pollution


Published 4:01 p.m. ET July 26, 2017 | Updated 5:47 p.m. ET July 26, 2017

Southwest Florida residents and visitors can expect a modest improvement in water clarity and perhaps fewer and smaller algae outbreaks by 2032, when a series of water quality projects will be completed, maybe…

That was the message from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, which met in Fort Myers Wednesday to talk about pollution coming from lands in the western Caloosahatchee River watershed.

The river’s estuary has too much nitrogen, which can lead to larger and more frequent algae blooms as well as cause sea grass and oyster bed kills.

This group of projects, most of which are in Fort Myers and Cape Coral areas, is expected to reduce the annual load from 1.7 million pounds to about 1.3 million pounds over the next 25 years.

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