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Editorial: Here's what needs to be done to stop algae blooms

 
Miami Herald John Cassani, director at Calusa Waterkeeper, takes a water sample at W.P. Franklin Lock and Dam park where a deepening algae bloom could be seen along the canal that is affecting waterways around Lake Okeechobee.
Miami Herald John Cassani, director at Calusa Waterkeeper, takes a water sample at W.P. Franklin Lock and Dam park where a deepening algae bloom could be seen along the canal that is affecting waterways around Lake Okeechobee.
Published Aug. 20, 2018

The environmental crisis in South Florida has fast become a political crisis. Politicians in both parties are busy blaming one another for the waves of toxic algae blooms spreading out from Lake Okeechobee and beyond, fouling both coasts and damaging public health, private property and the state's tourist economy. But there is plenty of blame to go around, and what Floridians need to hear is a robust plan and serious long-term commitment for moving forward.

With the primary election less than 10 days away and the general election around the corner, candidates are racing to address a crisis that's been in full view for years. Blue-green algae now covers up to 90 percent of Lake Okeechobee. As the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers releases excess water from the lake, the algae spreads through the canals connecting the lake to the Caloosahatchee River near Fort Myers and the St. Lucie River on the east coast, where the guacamole-like goo is killing fish and wildlife, polluting the air and water, damaging property and devastating tourism along the coasts.

This crisis has been building for years, and while Republicans in Tallahassee have had a large hand in making matters worse, there is more elected officials in both parties — in Florida and in Washington — need to be doing to help.

Here are four broad areas to address:

More water storage. Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson and Republican Sen. Marco Rubio sent a letter to Senate leaders on Thursday urging a quick vote on a massive water bill that would provide the federal government's share of funding for a new reservoir south of the lake. The reservoir is a key element of a broader plan to reduce the need for discharges by storing and cleaning water and sending it south to replenish the Everglades basin.

Stronger water standards. Florida under Gov. Rick Scott fought the federal government on clean-water standards and cut the budgets and staff of the regional water management districts, which act as a first line of defense for the state's natural resources. The state needs to set mandatory, enforceable targets on water quality for farmers and other industries. It should also press for an end to American price supports for sugar, which only subsidizes an industry that has contributed significantly to the environmental degradation of the basin.

Clean up septic tanks.Scott signed legislation in 2012 that repealed a state law requiring that septic tanks be inspected. Leaky septic tanks may not start algae blooms, but they help provide the fuel to keep the blooms going. Only 17,000 of the nearly 3 million septic tanks in Florida are being inspected, despite the potential to significantly reduce the amount of nutrients leaking into the groundwater. Half the tanks in Florida are at least 30 years old, making them more likely to leak. Legislators should vote next session to reinstate the program.

Finance restoration. Florida voters in 2014 overwhelmingly passed Amendment 1 as a means for committing huge, new sums for preservation. But lawmakers have misappropriated much of that money instead for salaries and other overhead. The state needs to redirect hundreds of millions of these dollars toward the measure's original intent. Spending on springs restoration, for example, should easily triple the $50 million earmarked this year.

Improved monitoring would also help. But these impacts are the direct result of policies by the very politicians who now express horror and surprise. Voters need to hold them accountable.