Florida Water Quality
Environmental concerns haven’t been high on the campaign agenda this year. Particularly at the state level, abortion and inflation take up a lot of bandwidth. At the federal level cultural and pocketbook issues also predominate. Our foundational cause, clean water…
As the number of deaths attributed to Hurricane Ian continues to mount, the focus rightly remains on the storm’s human toll. Once the smoke clears, though, we may also find the environmental toll to be horrific. The path Ian took…
It’s annoying, unsightly and sometimes stinky. And unfortunately, the sargassum seaweed that’s been piling up on South Florida beaches this summer is yet another indicator that our waters are out of whack — and in need of serious help. Sargassum…
We told you last month that toxic blue-green algae — cyanobacteria — is proliferating across the country, the globe — and across Florida. Dozens of health alerts have been issued across the Sunshine State; in Cape Coral earlier this week…
What, exactly, is a wetland? Careful — the answer could result in a lot fewer of them. This fall the U.S. Supreme Court will hear a case that could gut federal oversight of the nation’s fragile wetlands and the critical…
Blue-green algae is everywhere this summer. In Colorado Springs, officials are adding enzymes to the water to clear up annual blooms. In Kansas, officials over the 4th of July weekend warned residents to steer clear of 10 impaired water bodies.…
The following is a column by VoteWater Board President and Florida Sportsman Publisher Blair Wickstrom which originally appeared in the July 1 edition of Florida Sportsman Magazine. By Blair Wickstrom In the 1870s Dr. Cesare Lombroso, founder of the Italian…
In Florida our iconic waters are central to our quality of life; perhaps even our culture. But we do not have a “culture of clean water.” The phrase was coined by Dr. Paul Gray of Audubon Florida, speaking at a June…
Call this the calm before the storm. Take a look around at the waterways where you live. They look pretty good, right? After an appropriately dry dry season, many oft-turbid waterways are clear and blue. In some regions seagrass is…
Out-of-control development, poor water quality, dead seagrass and dying manatees were not inevitable in Florida. It didn’t have to be this way. But it IS this way due to specific decisions made by elected leaders and bureaucratic officials who act…