Florida Water Quality
Wetlands — whether massive marshes stretching across South Florida like the Everglades or little bitty bogs tucked away in a subdivision — are vital to the environment. They improve water quality, help prevent and reduce floods, recharge groundwater and store…
Florida Sen. Stan McClain comes off as an affable guy — the type of person you might like to get a beer with. But after seeing the legislation he’s filed ahead of the 2026 Legislative Session, you may want to…
If you haven’t seen it, be sure to check out the Tampa Bay Times blockbuster two-part series on how Florida’s water quality is getting worse almost across the board — in large part because Florida lets special interests (developers, Big…
In Dania Beach, Broward County, a controversy has erupted over a company’s plan to build a warehouse on a 3+ acre piece of land that had been characterized by the county as a “Local Area of Particular Concern.” The site teems with…
Last week we reported on a new study showing Lake O is the dirtiest lake in America; we had our doubts about the methodology but agree that the lake has big problems — which are going to require big fixes. Now, “official”…
Just how dirty is Lake Okeechobee? Rental company Lake.com thinks it may be the dirtiest in the nation. Using federal chemical data from 2020 through July 2025, the study ranked 46 of the nation’s biggest lakes on their “total pollution…
At the May 10 South Florida Water Management District Governing Board meeting, member Ben Butler said he’s heard “numerous concerns” about the district’s use of herbicides. Butler, manager of the family-owned dairy farm Butler Oaks Farm north of Lake Okeechobee,…
The water in the Indian River Lagoon just south of the Ernest Lyons Bridge and Stuart Causeway in Martin County should be clear, with a sandy or seagrass-covered bottom. But recently, as he’s been collecting water samples for the Florida…
The recent bout of red tide on Florida’s Gulf Coast that killed fish and caused respiratory problems to people also brought up a long-standing subject of debate: Do Lake Okeechobee discharges cause red tide? Several scientific studies show that Lake…
For weeks Florida legislators have been meeting in committee, filing and debating bills and preparing for the official start of the 2025 Legislative Session on March 4. This session VoteWater’s Gil Smart will travel to Tallahassee to lobby for clean-water…