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VoteWater Deep Dive

Deep Dive: If the STAs were reserved for lake water, Lake O might be below 13 feet now

April 4, 2024

As billions of gallons of polluted water poured out of Lake Okeechobee and into the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee River estuaries and Lake Worth Lagoon, a familiar question kept being raised: Why isn’t that water going south? And a familiar…

Deep Dive: What will it cost to fix the Indian River Lagoon?

February 1, 2024

When is $100 million not a lot of money? When it comes to saving the Indian River Lagoon. In December, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the allocation of $100 million in state funds through the Indian River Lagoon Protection Program for…

VoteWater Deep Dive: This project could clean water going into Lake O, but local residents oppose it. Now what?

December 7, 2023

Work on a large stormwater treatment area to cut the flow of polluted water into Lake Okeechobee has been put on hold while the South Florida Water Management District reviews concerns that the project could cause flooding and airplane crashes.…

Deep Dive: Here’s what Big Sugar can do to fix flooding in the Everglades

October 27, 2023

All is not well in the central Everglades. High water levels in the water conservation areas south of Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades Agricultural Area are flooding tree islands, and those dependent upon them — people, and creatures like deer…

VoteWater Deep Dive: Get ready for the fight over fertilizer

October 5, 2023

New study based on flawed past studies could be used to justify permanent ban on fertilizer bans — leading to dirtier water One of the more dubious actions (and there were plenty) taken by the 2023 Florida Legislature and rubber-stamped…

VoteWater Deep Dive: Chemical treatments can kill toxic algae – but are they safe?

August 23, 2023

After several years of using an algaecide to kill blue-green algal blooms in Lake Okeechobee and the canals around it, the South Florida Water Management District now plans to test the chemical compound for possible damage to the environment. At…

VoteWater Deep Dive: Seagrass is returning to the Indian River Lagoon! … Or is it?

July 25, 2023

In southern lagoon new seagrass is sprouting; in northern lagoon progress is slower. But Lake O discharges and impacts from development could ruin it all. Lorae Simpson is seeing an unusual sight in the Indian River Lagoon this summer. “When…

Toxic future: Why Lake O algae blooms will return every single year

June 14, 2023

You know those massive algal blooms that cover much of Lake Okeechobee each spring and summer? The ones that threaten the St. Lucie River and Caloosahatchee River estuaries, and everyone who lives around or spends time on them, with toxins?…

VoteWater Deep Dive: What is Florida going to do with all this sewage sludge?

May 11, 2023

The Florida Legislature has taken a step to address one of the state’s nastiest and fastest-growing environmental problems. The problem is that this attempt to solve one problem may well create another. As the legislative session wound down last week,…

VoteWater Deep Dive: Will septic-to-sewer conversions solve our water quality problems?

April 20, 2023

Nobody likes to think about what happens after they flush the toilet. But that out-of-sight-out-of-mind waste can cause serious problems to Florida’s environmentally fragile waterways. A lot of the people who have been thinking about the problem think the state…

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