November 2024

We’ve talked about the Everglades Restoration Project in previous editions of the H₂O Zone, but we make no apologies whatsoever for returning to the details of this epic project again this month.

The reason for opting to revisit is the chance to celebrate the completion of the construction phase of the Everglades Restoration Strategies Project, which was initially approved as long ago as 2012. This particular aspect of the scheme includes 13 projects, more than 6,000 acres of constructed wetlands and more than 115,000 acre-feet (the volume of water it takes to cover an acre of land to the depth of one foot), of water storage.

The celebration of this important milestone involved the South Florida Water Management District, the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida, Seminole Tribe of Florida, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, as well as local, state and federal officials too numerous to list. The huge efforts put in by the many agencies involved deserves ongoing recognition.

The project as a whole is a wonderful example of a disparate group – from the federal government all the way through to the individual citizens of Florida – coming together to work toward the common goal of clean water. Although the longer term water quality goals have not been met yet, the progress which has already been made – over 30 years spent removing nutrients which can harm the Everglades from factors like storm water, for example – is truly impressive.  

The Florida Governmental Utility Authority (FGUA), which is based in Orlando, plays a big role in keeping residents across 14 central Florida counties supplied with clean, safe water. With 86 water treatment plants and 22 wastewater treatment plants, it serves approximately 120,000 customers. 

Keenly aware of the need to preserve precious water supplies for the future, the FGUA also supports unique interactive initiatives across the communities being served. These include a Water Awareness Poster Contest – now in its 15th year - for students in grades K-6 and their teachers in Pasco County. The theme for 2024 was One Water, One Earth, and the program around the contest is designed to combine the creative arts with scientific understanding of the issues involved. 

At the other end of the age-range the FGUA holds an annual Lehigh Acres Rain Barrel Painting Competition for senior citizens in Lehigh County. The completed rain barrels are judged and then sold off via a silent online auction, with the funds – which amounted to $3000 in 2023 – used to help financially challenged seniors pay their utility bills.  For the lucky winners of the poster contest there are water themed prizes donated by conservation-attuned sponsors, as well as the honor of being displayed at East and West Paco Government Centers, and printed over a full page ad in the Tampa Bay Times.

Time and again in the H₂O Zone we highlight the role which the next generation is likely to play in tackling the many challenges of extreme climate events. 

This is yet another case of the kids being given the help they need to set an example and show us grown-ups how it’s done. The kids in question are the Girl Scouts of West Central Florida, and thanks to a mini-grant from Tampa Bay Water, they’re busy learning all about protecting and improving the environment.

This is happening at an educational hub called ‘The Wonders of Water’, located at Camp Indian Echo. The camp plays host to no fewer than 4,000 girls in all, every one of whom will be able to benefit from the program, which is designed to give them an understanding of exactly where the water that flows when they turn on a tap comes from. Other initiatives being funded include a pump aeration system designed to turn Daisy Lake into a healthier environment for plants and aquatic life, as well as a more inviting place for the girls to enjoy swimming and boating. 

The maintained good health of the lake will enable facilitators to program activities along the lakeside and on the waterfront, all aimed at teaching these young people better ways of protecting and preserving the environment.      

Natural disasters such as hurricanes Helene and Milton serve as a stark reminder of the destructive potential of nature, particularly when heightened by the changing climate. In this particular story, however, we’re presented with the reality of how much nature itself can do to offer protection from natural disasters of this kind.

The hurricanes caused billions of dollars’ worth of damage, with $4.6 billion in insurance claims having been made by the time of writing. A recent scientific study, funded by the Live Wildly Foundation, found that the 18 million acre Wildlife Corridor – a stretch of connected lands and waters running from the Panhandle to the Everglades – could help to shield against the effects of rising temperatures and floods.

According to the study, the Wildlife Corridor is home to 10 million acres of the state’s floodplains – two thirds of the total – and these act as a natural drainage system capable of soaking up the huge amounts of water falling during storms. In addition, the Wildlife Corridor can reduce the risk of wildfires, while the marshes and areas of coastal mangroves it contains play a vital role in protecting communities from storm surges and reducing coastal erosion.    

Every now and again a story comes along which – although it actually turns out to be completely serious and worthwhile – simply sounds too funny for us to ignore. This tale of cows that belch and the scientists trying to stop them doing it quite so much fits that description exactly. 

The scientists are researchers at the University of Florida, and they’ve been looking into cows belching for more than a decade. The core of the problem is that traditional cow feed - made up of corn and sorghum – makes cows burp. And when they burp, the burp itself is packed with methane, a powerful greenhouse gas and the second largest contributor to climate warming.

And that’s why the burping cows need to be taken seriously. The amount of damaging methane in the atmosphere has doubled over the last 200 years, and a third of the emissions are estimated to come from livestock. President Joe Biden gave a commitment in 2023 to cut America’s methane emissions by 30% by 2030. The team at the UF received $5 million in funding to drive research into the creation of feed additives capable of reducing the methane the cows produce. Although the researchers are on the right track, the biggest challenge is to produce an additive which does the trick without impacting the taste of milk or beef.

Hurricanes Helene and Milton – as detailed in our story about Florida’s Wildlife Corridor – caused massive amounts of damage. It’s only natural that the focus of stories about this damage usually tends to fall on people’s homes and livelihoods. 

In this particular story, however, the attention turns to the thousands of trees that fell in Tampa Bay during the hurricanes. What’s also notable about the coverage is that it creates context by offering up the ‘story’ of some of the fallen trees. One was an oak in Clearwater that shaded a home and kept energy costs down. Two sugar maples were special to Tampa resident Stephanie Price because they’d been planted back in the 80s by her late father, while an oak in the St. Petersburg front yard of Lana Vidic had been much loved because of the swing onto which the kids would pile for Christmas photos in their matching pajamas. The benefits of a thriving urban forest stretch beyond the emotional, however, since trees help to keep the temperature lower by shading the streets below, as well as capturing dust particles, which improves the air quality. 

For this reason, Mayor Jane Castor has pledged to plant 30,000 trees by 2030. So now the challenge is to choose the right trees – those more likely to withstand extreme wind and rain – and plant them in the right places.

Here at Hoover there’s nothing we like more than stories about communities coming together in order to protect, or to simply celebrate the natural world around them. 

That’s what the community of Amelia Island does every year when they gather on Fernandina Beach for a festival to celebrate the annual return of North Atlantic right whales. This return is driven by females swimming to warmer waters to give birth to their calves, and thousands of people attend the resulting spectacle. The lucky ones get to glimpse the incredibly rare sight of a new born right whale swimming with their mom. 

The event – a two day celebration including live music, food trucks and educational booths – is driven by the love people feel for these endangered creatures. Kids in attendance craft unique ‘save the whale’ postcards, demanding a rule compelling boats to slow down in right whale migratory zones, before sending the cards to elected officials, while the celebratory tone is never allowed to overwhelm the reality; these whales, of which there are only 370 left, need immediate protection.