Q&A Of The Day – Florida’s Toxic Algae Problems & Reporting Failures by Nikki Fried - Part 1
Each day I feature a listener question sent by one of these methods.
Email: brianmudd@iheartmedia.com
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Today’s entry: If Nikki Fried has violated the Clean Water Act for three straight quarters, why are we just hearing about it?
Bottom Line: Good question. Potentially for all the reasons important news is often omitted but also because Congressman Brian Mast brought this to our attention on back of last week’s alarming report by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection showing record high toxic algal levels in Lake Okeechobee. The level measured – 860 parts per billion, is 107.5 times what the EPA has stated is safe. The level of toxicity is enough to potentially be deadly to every marine animal, in addition to people who’d come in contact with it. That’d be dire news at any time but especially given discharges had taken place from the lake within the prior two weeks and that the record toxicity was recorded in April. Previous peaks during toxic algal blooms have occurred in late summer, exacerbated by summer heat. These developments take us to Congressman Brian Mast’s flagging reporting issues at Florida’s Agriculture Department.
Last June Governor DeSantis signed Florida’s Clean Waterways Act into law. Under the Act these changes were to take place:
- Regulation of septic tanks as a source of nutrients and transfer of oversight from DOH to DEP.
- Contingency plans for power outages to minimize discharges of untreated wastewater for all sewage disposal facilities.
- Provision of financial records from all sanitary sewage disposal facilities so that DEP can ensure funds are being allocated to infrastructure upgrades, repairs, and maintenance that prevent systems from falling into states of disrepair.
- Detailed documentation of fertilizer use by agricultural operations to ensure compliance with Best Management Practices and aid in evaluation of their effectiveness.
- Updated stormwater rules and design criteria to improve the performance of stormwater systems statewide to specifically address nutrients.
As part of the Act, Florida’s Department of Agriculture is tasked with gathering data on the total amount of nitrogen and phosphorus used on properties participating in the Best Management Practices (BMP) program. Additionally, FDACS must complete site visits to confirm BMP participants are implementing best management practices.
The law mandates that quarterly reports on these tasks are to be provided to Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection. That’s yet to happen and here we are already facing an algal bloom crisis which is why Mast is now demanding that Fried comply with the law. Remarkably, despite the unanimous approval by both bodies of Florida’s state legislature, the extent of commentary provided by Nikki Fried was this: Just before an election, the DeSantis administration is furthering their relentless drive to consolidate power, seizing authority from the federal government and strengthening his grip on Florida’s wetlands. When it comes to the conservation of our water resources, we need consistency, transparency, and public participation — this administration has demonstrated a disregard for these values in their oversight of the unemployment system, dealings with cabinet meetings, and disclosing of COVID-19 data. Water is our state’s lifeblood, a public good which all Floridians rely on, and we have a responsibility to ensure that the proper checks and balances are in place so it can be protected and conserved for generations to come.
In the second part of today’s Q&A I’ll dive into that odd and meandering repudiation of Florida’s Clean Water Act.
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