State looks to reduce Caloosahatchee pollution

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. 

Lake Okeechobee water to be sent to Everglades, a first in dry season

The nitrogen comes mostly from fertilizers used by the agriculture industry. It also washes off local yards and into ditches, creeks and then the river. 

More than 11 million pounds of nitrogen flows down the river each year, and about 85 percent of the nitrogen comes from the rural eastern part of Lee and Hendry counties. Lake Okeechobee releases account for about 61 percent of the total load. 

Lawmakers want to see progress before funding future projects. 

"They want us to put in these review milestones toward meeting the TMDL (total maximum daily load) and trying to meet that TMDL within 20 years of adoption," said Sara Davis, an author of the five-year update that was the focus of Wednesday's meeting.

The pollution maximums for the coastal section of the river were finished in 2009, and the BMAP, or Basin Management Action Plan, adopted in 2012. 

There is no timeline for addressing the upstream pollution, but that process could take 25 years or more judging by the progress of the action plan. 

Critics say they wonder if the river will ever be rid of the 11 million pounds of nitrogen that flows down the entire length of the river each year. 

"It’s really a drop in the bucket," said John Cassani, with the Calusa Waterkeeper, after the meeting. "If you do the math it will take a couple of centuries to meet the reduction goal."

As dry season persists, Lake Okeechobee is extremely low

Lawmakers want to see progress, Davis said. Without proof of progress or an attainable goal, money from the state is not guaranteed. 

"We’re trying to figure out what it will look like and whether that target can be reached in 20 years," Davis said. "If we don’t’ think we can, the Legislature wants to know why. They want to fund the right things."

There will be public meetings here in October to take input. 

Rae Ann Wessel, with Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation, said she worries the upcoming water samples may not be as accurate as they have been in the past. 

"Flow is a really critical part because the loading comes with water, and I’m not sure if we can look at the actual data versus modeled data," Wessel said. Some of the flow data work the United States Geological Survey was doing has been de-funded, she said.

Wessel said the process could be easier if DEP would simply look for the sources of the pollution and work with those sources to remedy the excess nitrogen. 

"Let’s look at what each entity is doing to reduce those loads," she said. "It continues to increase in the estuary, so something is not working ... We're just rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic."

DEP will conduct water sampling in the river, assess those samples, take public input on the results and get the BMAP plan to Governor Rick Scott's office by Nov. 30. 

Davis said the group can include more flow data if it is needed.

"There are a lot of moving pieces that haven’t quite finished up for us and we’re on a tight timeline," Davis said. "So we’re trying to get through them as quick as we can while trying to be as accurate as possible."

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