Water Quality

A type of harmful blue-green algae is so great in Lake Avalon that it remains closed to water sports enthusiasts for the third month. Meanwhile, red tides 15 miles wide are blooming in the Gulf of Mexico. In Southwest Florida, blue-green algae like the summer and fall, while red tide's time is the cooler winter and spring — but both harmful algae have taken hold in places throughout the region.

LOSOM was a hard-fought win for environmentalists was those key components the nonprofits believed would reduce the need for emergency discharges that have previously caused ecological damage

Lee County officials are surveying residents to see if they know that fertilizing residential lawns may cause potential water quality problems, this is on first day after ban ended

Supporters of an effort to get an amendment to Florida's constitution onto the 2026 ballot that would assure citizens a right to clean water are hoping to get a boost from Florida Sportsman Magazine Editor, Blair Wickstrom, in the magazine’s October issue. It will contain an editorial Call to Action seeking 900 volunteer petition gatherers to station themselves at voting sites around the state to collect signatures during early voting that begins on Oct. 21. The magazine did a similar call to action in 1991 that resulted in creating the Gill Net Ban amendment, which passed with 72% support during the 1994 election. We learn more about the amendment and what exactly it would do, and the issues it aims to address when it comes to regulatory agencies not doing enough to protect the environment.

Calusa Waterkeeper will explain the current water conditions, outline health risks, and share tips about the drainage creek, which measures Enterococcus levels 21 times higher than Florida allows.

Collecting, cleaning, and recycling clam and oyster shells to restore and create new reefs is a growing volunteer movement in Florida to enhance and protect coastal ecosystems, improve water quality, and protect shorelines from erosion

The Lake Okeechobee System Operating Manual — LOSOM , a set of guidelines on how, when, and where water will be released from Lake Okeechobee — was made official this week

In the late 2000s several local governments in Southwest Florida began implementing ordinances that prohibited the application of lawn fertilizer during the rainy season. Lee County’s ordinance, which was passed in 2008, just took effect again. As of June 1, it is prohibited to apply lawn fertilizer containing nitrogen or phosphorus anywhere in unincorporated Lee County until the beginning of November. Most municipalities in southwest Florida have similar ordinances, including Cape Coral, the City of Fort Myers and Fort Myers Beach, and the City of Naples. Charlotte, Sarasota, and Manatee counties have similar rainy season bans. We get an overview of Lee County’s ordinance, and the importance of complying with these rules to benefit our ecosystems.

Environmentalists remain perplexed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' recent veto of a wildly popular bipartisan bill to safeguard the state’s coastlines and protect the health of beachgoers because he believed it gave the Florida Department of Health too much power

In the late 2000s several local governments in Southwest Florida began implementing ordinances that prohibited the application of lawn fertilizer during the rainy season. Lee County’s ordinance, which was passed in 2008, just took effect again. As of June 1, it is prohibited to apply lawn fertilizer containing nitrogen or phosphorus anywhere in unincorporated Lee County until the beginning of November. Most municipalities in southwest Florida have similar ordinances, including Cape Coral, the City of Fort Myers and Fort Myers Beach, and the City of Naples. Charlotte, Sarasota, and Manatee counties have similar rainy season bans. We get an overview of Lee County’s ordinance, and the importance of complying with these rules to benefit our ecosystems.