SWFMIA on the Southwest Florida Water Crisis

The Southwest Florida Marine Industry Association (SWFMIA)—Go Boating Florida’s parent organization—has a vested interest in our water quality as we clearly understand how vital clean water is to our area’s economic wellbeing and quality of life. Based on this understanding we would like to make the following comments and recommendation to our members and all Southwest Florida residents.

First, our existing water quality problems are nothing new. This year’s problems may be exaggerated, but they are an annual occurrence. Second, we have faced two distinct and different issues: the saltwater red tide, and the freshwater blue-green algae. We will address both issues to the best of our current understanding of each.

Karenia brevis, or red tide as it is more commonly known, is a naturally occurring event that has been documented in Florida waters as far back as the mid 1900s. According to Mote Marine, several components contribute to a red tide bloom: the organism must be present in the water; the right mix of water temperature, salinity and nutrients must combine; favorable conditions exist to concentrate and transport it; and finally, the presence or absence of other life forms that may encourage or inhibit the blooms.

Red tide is often associated with or blamed on coastal nutrient pollution. However, according to Mote, there is no demonstrated association between nutrient pollution and red tide formation or how often blooms occur. Red tide forms 10-40 miles offshore, away from human-contributed nutrient sources. However, Mote also states that “…scientific data available so far suggest that it is possible for nutrients flowing from land to sea—including natural AND human-contributed nutrients carried by storm water runoff and the input of rivers—to serve as additional ’food’ for growth of Karenia brevis red tide blooms that have moved to shore.”

The other concern associated with our recent water quality issues is freshwater blue-green algae, which are actually colonies of microscopic bacteria called Cyanobacteria. Taste and odor problems commonly occur with large concentrations of Cyanobacteria, and some types are capable of producing toxins.

The blue-green algae blooms are known to be caused by artificially elevated concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorous in our local waters. We understand there are multiple contributors to this problem (agricultural runoff, overuse of fertilizers, leaking septic tanks) and many projects need to be implemented before the issue will be completely mitigated.