In Eve Samples column, she compares the success of the newly clean water in the Tampa Bay with what could be done for the Indian River Lagoon.
The headline leapt off the screen of my iPhone.
It was a story from across the state, and it articulated the kind of progress our region has longed for:
“Sea grass beds expand, show water is now as clean as it was in 1950,” the Tampa Bay Times reported.
That’s not a typo. The once-fouled Tampa Bay can now boast health that’s as good as it was when a loaf of bread cost 12 cents.
How did Florida’s largest estuary rebound so remarkably?
What can we learn from its progress?
How can we replicate that success in the Indian River Lagoon, one of the most biologically diverse estuaries in North America?
It boils down to a persistent — and measurable — effort to reduce nitrogen pollution. Also key to Tampa Bay’s success: buy-in from responsible parties.
Let me explain.
An alliance of government players and big companies joined forces in 1996 to create the Tampa Bay Nitrogen Management Consortium. It includes Tropicana Products and the global fertilizer firm CF Industries, and it aimed to get ahead of state and federal water quality rules by voluntarily tackling pollution.
Working with the Tampa Bay Estuary Program, the consortium has since pumped more than $500 million into nitrogen-reducing projects, such as restoring wetlands.
The goal has been to cut nitrogen in the Tampa Bay by 17 tons each year.
“That’s really important to have measurable goals — otherwise you don’t know if you’ve made any progress,” said Nanette O’Hara, public outreach coordinator for the Tampa Bay Estuary Program.
The efforts moved the needle, even as the population has exploded in the Tampa Bay area. Proof is in the massive rebound of sea grass reported this month: More than 5,000 acres of new grasses emerged in the Tampa Bay from 2012 to 2014.
“It is amazing to have this kind of environmental improvement in an area where we have 2.5 million people living around the bay,” O’Hara said.
Let’s be honest: We can’t fix the Indian River Lagoon and St. Lucie River estuary by following the same exact template.
The most obvious difference is the nitrogen-laden discharges from Lake Okeechobee that blast our estuary during particularly rainy years. Tampa Bay doesn’t have that uncontrollable variable to reckon with.
But the root of the pollution problem is the same in the Tampa Bay and the Indian River Lagoon.
The essence of the solution will be similar, too. It will require measurement and accountability.
It can be done.
Read the column here:
http://www.tcpalm.com/opinion/columnists/eve-samples-waterways-as-clean-as-1950-its-happening-in-this-spot-and-it-can-happen-here_13857717