Cassani discusses environmental impacts on water quality
Calusa Waterkeeper guest speaker at recent GPICA meeting
Greater Pine Island Civic Association President Helen Fox opened February’s monthly meeting with a reminder that Pine Islanders live on the land of the Caloosa people. The aim of the GPICA, she said, is to preserve the land from over-development, eco system destruction and the spoiling of its waters, while honoring the legacy of the Caloosa, who lived on Pine Island and throughout Southwest Florida for almost 2,000 years.
Featured speaker Calusa Waterkeeper John Cassani was invited to help members gain a clearer understanding of unresolved Pine Island, and Matlacha water quality issues. One of these issues, said Cassani, is sediment transport in the Ceitus Canal in Matlacha Pass Aquatic Preserve, from the 2008 removal of the Ceitus Boat Lift.
According to Cassani, removing the Ceitus barrier has resulted in approximately 75 percent of stormwater run-off, which now leaves the northwest spreader through the mouth of the Ceitus Canal. Placing another structure in the canal, however, is likely not feasible at this time, he said.
A number of water quality problems are driven by a loss of wetlands, which Cassani said is becoming a more common problem all over south Florida. A great focus of Calusa Waterkeeper has been on water quality as it pertains to public health, such as fecal bacterial contamination and harmful algal blooms. In many different ways, growth is significantly impacting Southwest Florida water quality, Cassani said.
“To give you an example of how much deterioration has occurred, the highest value waters we have are our coastal, aquatic preserves and they are, what’s considered by statute, outstanding Florida waters, that have, theoretically, the highest protection FDEP (Florida Department of Environmental Protection) can provide, but unfortunately, these — close to Pine Island and Matlacha — upper and lower Pine Island Sound, Matlacha Pass Aquatic Preserve, Estero Bay Aquatic Preserve, all outstanding Florida waters, are now verified impaired for nutrient pollution. That’s not good,” Cassani said.
Through the national “Clean Water Act,” there is a requirement to restore water bodies that are verified impaired for nutrient pollution. One of the ways this is handled in Florida, Cassani explained, is to develop a restoration target, referred to as a total maximum daily load (TMDL). This defines the assimilative capacity of the impaired water for the pollutant, for which is it impaired. Unfortunately, said Cassani, there has not been a TMDL developed in the local region since approximately 2010.
“We’re seeing a more rapid rate of increased impairment, more water bodies, greater areas becoming impaired, and the restoration required by law is not keeping up … not even close,” Cassani said.
Overall, nutrients, such as phosphorus and nitrogen, are driving the impairment of local waters, at a rate increase of 37 percent, with much of the impact coming from fecal bacteria. Although Lee County has two TMDL programs, one in the Estero Basin and one for the Caloosahatchee, Cassani said, ironically, the area is experiencing an increase in pollutant parameters rather than a decrease, in spite of these restoration efforts, because of growth overwhelming the region.
“As an ecologist, I have some understanding of how nutrient pollution changes ecosystems in a community structure. When we see dramatic increases in nutrient enrichment, some forms of primary producers like algae and other types of plants respond quicker to that enrichment and they end up dominating the primary production of that community,” Cassani said.
The shift can be witnessed in many areas throughout Florida, he said, citing the example of macro algae besting sea grass in terms of growth. Matlacha Pass is an area where this shift has been observed as an emerging realization, as the growth of sea grass is declining. Manatees, he said, are starving, particularly on the east coast, in large part, due to the tremendous decline in needed sea grass.
Cassani ended by reminding GPICA members that they can make a difference by reaching out to elected officials in large numbers.
“This is your home. This is your community. It’s changing. It’s changing fast and not for the better. Your roads are more clogged up, your schools are more crowded, you’re losing wetlands, you’re losing all that bedrock environmental services stuff … it’s being lost every single day,” Cassani said.
This meeting can be accessed in its entirety at gpica.org
The next meeting will be an in-person public information session Tuesday March 1, 2022. The location is to be determined.
To reach PAULETTE LeBLANC / pleblanc@breezenewspapers.com, please email