July 2023

There are many very good reasons why Florida is the second most popular state in the US when it comes to attracting tourists, but chief amongst them must be the lure of the great outdoors. That allure now looks set to become even more powerful, thanks to a $14 million grant from the Department of the Interior. The money, part of a nationwide Land and Water Conservation Fund, is available until 2025 and is intended to be used to expand access to the outdoors as to as many people as possible and safeguard the environment.

 More good news on the funding front but this time at a more down to earth level, with local government across Florida, as well as non-profit organizations and academic institutions, now able to put in requests for water quality grants from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. The funds, which total more than $390 million, will be made available to fund projects which reinforce existing efforts to protect Florida’s precious water resources, as well as being used to fund new ideas and programs. Areas covered by the grants include things such as water quality improvement, alternative water supplies, coral reef restoration and harmful algal blooms. We’ll be looking at developments in at least two of those areas in other stories this month, and funds can also be requested to help communities across Florida deal with the impact of flooding and storm surges.  

It can be all too easy to think that the action needed to protect precious resources such as the water surrounding Florida is the kind of thing that only local or national government is capable of delivering. Time and again, however, we come across stories demonstrating that the real conservation heroes are often small organizations or even concerned individuals who have decided that they simply have to do their bit. Rachel Silverstein is one of those individuals, and she works as executive director of the Miami Waterkeeper, a non-profit group advocating for nothing more or less than clean water in South Florida. The work they do was recently bolstered with the award of a $5 million grant from the Knight Foundation. 

 Zephyrhills, in the Paso County area of Florida, is nicknamed the ‘City of Pure Water.’ It’s a nickname based on the bottled water drawn from nearby Crystal Springs which is marketed and sold across the US. But it’s the local water supply, taken from wells located outside the city limits, which is currently feeling the strain.

Like the rest of Florida, Zephyrhills is in the grip of a population boom, but the local City Council is so concerned about the pressure being placed on the water supply – with the maximum annual allowance almost being reached in 2023 – that a one-year moratorium on approving new construction has been put in place. Given the fact that Florida is the nation’s fastest growing state, it seems likely that Zephyrhills won’t be the last city to feel this kind of pressure. 

There are occasions when environmental problems manifest themselves so clearly that they become impossible to ignore, and that’s exactly what’s happening now in Lake Okeechobee, the largest freshwater lake in Florida. A combination of the wash-off from phosphorous-based agricultural fertilizers, rising temperatures and heavier, less predictable rain storms has led to the surface of the lake regularly being infested with toxic algal blooms. This toxic slime can kill pets unlucky enough to wade in it, while the fumes given off can be harmful if breathed in by humans. In this worrying report, one resident local to the Lake states that the only creatures likely to be found enjoying life at the water’s edge during algae season are flocks of buzzards.

As with the account of the toxic algal bloom in Lake Okeechobee, this is a story which deals with Mother Nature sending a clear visual signal that things aren’t quite right. In this case the signal takes the form of Florida Keys coral reefs losing their color and becoming deathly pale if not completely white. This is a process which takes place every year but which is happening much earlier than normal this summer because of the record-high temperatures of the water. This article outlines the severity of the problem as well as offering a slightly more optimistic look at efforts – on the part of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary – to rebuild the coral reefs in the Keys back to 90% of their extent 50 years ago, using coral bred to withstand higher temperatures as well as underwater cooling fans and shade covers.  

Drawing attention to environmental issues can be tricky, with so many worthwhile causes clamoring for attention that it can be hard to stand out.  The Lower Keys Underwater Music Festival got around this problem by being exactly what it sounds like – a program of music played through underwater speakers for an audience of divers and snorkelers at Looe Key Reef, part of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. The playlist included the Beatles’ “Yellow Submarine,” Jimmy Buffett’s “Fins” and the theme from “The Little Mermaid”, and ‘mermaids’ in costume and strumming ukuleles helped to provide visual as well as musical entertainment. 

It can be easy to become despondent when reading stories about sustainability and the negative impact human beings can all too often have on the environment. That’s why it’s important to highlight stories like the graduation of Tampa’s first official AmeriCorp Green Team. This environmental stewardship program is the result of a partnership with the city of Tampa, AmeriCorps and Volunteer Florida, and the young members of the team had, even before graduating, managed to plant around 250 trees and more than 6,000 plants at various City of Tampa parks, removed over 850 pounds of invasive plant species, picked up 30,000 pounds of litter and completed more than 150 hours of environmental education. 

Our final story this month gives us the chance to blow our own trumpet just a little. It concerns a heat warning in Jacksonville and advice given out by JEA, a non-profit, community-owned utilities provider.

As well as offering advice on how to cut down the cost of air conditioning during unusually hot spells, JEA provided advice on irrigation water conservation, and anyone familiar with Hoover Pumping will know that it’s the kind of advice – inspect sprinkler heads, check for leaks, ensure irrigation isn’t wasted on the wrong areas and keep a close eye on the health of your water source – that we’ve been providing our customers with for years.