Giving Compass' Take:

• Holly Parker explains how Florida's policies fail to protect the ocean and waterways, causing annual toxic algae blooms that harm the economy, aquatic life, and human health. 

• How can funders make an impact on this issue? What are the long-term consequences of the annual blooms? 

• Read our environmental issues guide for donors.

Florida’s southwest coast is grappling with the largest, longest red tide in more than a decade. Dead fish, sea turtles and manatees are littering the sugar sand beaches of Lee and Collier counties. Florida’s southeast coast is similarly struggling with massive blue-green algae blooms. A recent news report stated that at least 15 people were treated at emergency rooms in St. Lucie County after making contact with the algal blooms.

I hesitated to write this blog post, because what I really wanted to do was copy and paste the post I wrote on algal blooms in Florida two years ago. That post explained the hydrology of Florida’s famed River of Grass, how we carved up the wetlands in South Florida for flood control and development, and why the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee estuaries were being decimated by nutrient pollution.

Why do we have algal blooms in rivers, lakes, and estuaries year after year, and why is the problem worse than ever?

At its heart, this issue is about nutrient pollution- too much nitrogen and phosphorus washing into our water bodies. Nutrient pollution comes from a number of sources, including: agriculture, residential and urban runoff, and wastewater. So let’s take a look at how our state government has handled these major sources of pollution.

It’s no secret that agriculture is one of the largest sources of nutrient pollution in the country.

There are approximately 2.6 million septic tanks in Florida, of which only about 17,000 are being inspected.

Even areas that are sewered contribute to pollution problems as sewage infrastructure is in desperate need of repair and upgrading to handle the flows from growing populations.

That’s not all; as authorized by the Governor, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection fought the EPA on new federal water quality standards in Florida.

Read the full article about toxic algae blooms by Holly Parker at Surfrider Foundation.