February 2025

We've  written about the beaches around Florida many times in the H2O Zone, sometimes with good news and sometimes bad, but this particular story is one of the most unusual we’ve covered.

It revolves around the phenomenon of mystery tar balls and yes, you read that correctly. The U.S Coast Guard has been out searching for tar balls – small, black pieces of oil – which have been washing up from Port Everglades to Palm Beach.

The tar balls, which are generally the size of coins, can stick to your feet if you’re out enjoying the beach. While unpleasant, they are usually harmless unless you happen to suffer an allergic reaction, but perhaps the most fascinating aspect of this is that nobody knows for sure where they come from. The Coast Guard crews were unable to locate a specific source, such as an oil leak, although the tar balls are sometimes produced by ‘natural seeps’ of oil from the petroleum reserves beneath the ocean floor. Either way, if you’re out on the beach this weekend and find a tar ball squished under the sole of your foot.

The Coast Guard crews were unable to locate a specific source, such as an oil leak, although the tar balls are sometimes produced by ‘natural seeps’ of oil from the petroleum reserves beneath the ocean floor. Either way, if you’re out on the beach this weekend and find a tar ball squished under the sole of your foot, you can take some consolation from the fact that you’re involved in a bona fide natural mystery.

Sometimes the fight to preserve the natural habitat that surrounds us in Florida can seem almost too complex to engage with. This particular story is an antidote to that kind of weariness, however, since it involves Lee County opting to purchase 100 acres of critical habitat to add to already popular nature preserves in the area. 

The land is made up of 80.5 acres in Bokeelia and 15.5 acres in the south eastern part of the county, with the Bokeelia land making up part of the existing Smokehouse Bay Preserve at the northeast end of Pine Island. Taken together, the 100 acres offer world class fishing opportunities, prime habitat for panthers, an extensive system of hiking trails and a safe haven for other wildlife such as songbirds and black bears. 

All of this will be protected from development and enhanced further thanks to having been purchased by Lee County, a step which demonstrates that sometimes – given the right resources – the most effective methods of protecting the environment are the simplest. 

This story encapsulates one of the starkest environmental problems facing Florida as whole – when there isn’t too much water causing floods through high tides or extreme rainfall, there is increasingly not enough. 

The details are found in reports coming out of the Archbold Biological Station, a research facility in Highlands County, Florida. These point to a potentially dangerous connection between the ongoing development boom across Florida and  over-exploitation of groundwater - and it’s creating growing concerns about a looming water shortage. 

Factors playing into this disquiet include rising temperatures overall and rising sea levels. The latter has seen salt water added to the ground water, creating a mixture which needs expensive treatment before it is safe to use. Given that this groundwater is the primary source of around 90% of the drinking water for the 23 million people living in Florida, any problem with the quality or quantity of supply could quickly become acute, particularly in places like Miami and Tampa, where fresh aquifer water is either too deep to access or too salty to use without extensive treatment. 

The simple fact is that the steps required to tackle the risk of a water deficit are projected to cost around $3.3 billion by 2040, with the state itself coming up with $500 million of that amount.  

Some of the more heart-warming stories that crop up in the H2O Zone involve people coming together to help protect the wildlife that calls Florida home. This example took place over five days in the St. Joseph Bay area during a recent cold snap and it involved local, state and federal rescuers coming together to save an amazing 1,200 suffering sea turtles. 

Pictures from the rescue showed kayaks and truck beds packed with turtles made groggy by the water temperatures. As cold-blooded creatures, the turtles experience stress when the temperatures drop below 50 degrees Fahrenheit, and become unable to regulate their body temperature.

The vast majority of the rescued turtles were alive but lethargic, and were taken to Gulf World Marine Institute in Panama City Beach. Some needed medical care, others simply a quick dip in a warmer saltwater tank. Sadly, despite the quick action, 100 turtles died but many, many more were saved and were later released into the warmer waters of the Gulf.

We thought this month's H2O Zone should take in a little understanding of our water sources and the water cycle. 

Any discussion of water in Florida begins and ends with two things – the reserves that supply our water, and the water cycle via which that water is naturally recycled and reused - many times over.

The water cycle is always in delicate balance.

Understanding the ultimate sources of the water upon which we rely helps to develop a clear focus on using it in the most sustainable manner possible. Given that more than 50% of the water used in Florida is used for irrigation purposes, and given that irrigation solutions are our business, it is more important than it’s ever been for decisions regarding irrigation to be based on a firm grasp of the basics.

We’ve looked several times over the years at the dangers of beach erosion around the Florida coast, often caused by extreme weather events. It’s heartwarming, therefore, to look at the other side of the coin, and see eroded beaches slowly being rebuilt and transformed from small strips of sand to larger expanses. 

You may not know it but most of the beaches in Southwest Florida are on a schedule of so-called ‘re-nourishment’. This involves sand from the ocean floor being pumped to the coastline every five years or so. The work tends to be carried out in winter and early spring, in order to avoid disrupting vital processes like the nesting of shoreline birds and sea turtles.

Although there is an obvious risk that rebuilt beaches will erode again over time, while the augmented expanse of sand remains in place it will provide a better nesting ground for female sea turtles, with the higher, deeper sand offering greater protection from storm surges. Larger beaches also offer greater protection to the shoreline as whole during tropical storms, with the sand taking the brunt of the impact and protecting places which are further inland.    

From efforts to rebuild beaches impacted by erosion, this story focuses on prevention rather than cure, and the work being undertaken to tackle beach erosion in Florida by protecting them from future storms. 

This project is a partnership between the Naples Botanical Garden, FGCU researchers, and the wider community. A key part of the work involves educating members of the public on the importance of coastal plant life. Once in place, the plants build up natural sand dunes to a height of four to six feet. These dunes then act like a ‘wall’ protecting cities from storm surges. The roots of the plants, in turn, hold the sand in place and prevent erosion, while the structure of the plants, as they grow, will act as a brake on storm surges, slowing down the flow of any water. The stated aim of the project is also to boost the economy along the coastline, by ensuring that beaches can open quickly after a storm.

The people behind the project cite figures showing that Collier County, for example, welcomed 2.7 million tourists in 2024, which supported 32,250 jobs and generated $3.9 billion, with the beaches being cited as the primary reason for visiting by 50% of those tourists. As well as protecting the natural habitat of the beaches, the project is driven by a wish to protect these valuable areas since they form a foundation stone for local economic activity.