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Over the weekend, I spent time down in North Port with a friend, delivering gasoline and water to folks who didn’t or couldn’t leave their houses. While out there (in my dinghy) we noticed failed septic tanks, porta potties tipped over and submerged in floodwaters, as well as loads of submerged cars and trucks. Dead…

First off, I hope everyone came through Ian without too much damage. Our thoughts go out to Jennifer Carpenter, a member of our Policy Board who represents FDEP from their Fort Myers office. As you know by now, impacts increased from north to south, and while my neighborhood had damage from hours of tropical storm…

It is WAY too early to know what is going to happen with what is now “Tropical Depression 9”. But things can change quickly, and it’s important to know that a storm that people were blasé about can change into a very scary hurricane – like Charley and Punta Gorda in 2004. As well, very…

Starting this morning, the entity charged with closing down Piney Point initiated a controlled release of accumulated rainfall from one of their ponds. These discharges are not from the pond that releases came from last year, but from the OGS-S pond, or “old gyp stack – south” pond. This is not process water from the…

One of the questions we are asked on social media is why doesn’t the SBEP advocate for reopening Midnight Pass?  On our social media sites, we sometimes get comments from the public that Little Sarasota Bay is “dead” and that reopening the pass is the only way to bring it back from the edge of…

Over the last year and a half, our staff have spent multiple days on and under the water in all parts of Sarasota Bay. As part of a coordinated bay-wide monitoring effort with our partners and volunteers, we have documented recent increases in seagrass coverage in the upper bay, as well as substantial declines in…

Last Friday, a pipe carrying raw wastewater sprung a leak in the City of Sarasota, at the corner of 8th Street and Shade Avenue. The release allowed approximately 340,000 gallons of untreated wastewater to pour out into the street. Along 8th street, there are a number of stormwater outlets that funneled much of that water…

As has been reported in the media, we have a number of beaches that have recently been marked with “No swimming” advisories – just in time for another sweltering weekend! See, for example – No-swim advisories issues for 3 Manatee County beaches; other county beaches not affected (msn.com) and No-swim advisories posted at seven Sarasota…

Yesterday, I provided an update about the scheduled releases of stormwater from one of the ponds on top of Piney Point’s gyp stack. While those releases will likely load 99.9% less nitrogen than what happened last year, it likely will be equivalent to adding about 100 bags of fertilizer to the bay – so it’s…

As I promised, if I received additional information on the likely future discharges from the Piney Point facility, I would update you. Earlier today, I received water quality data from the receiver that allows me to come up with a preliminary nitrogen load estimate, to compare to the load that was applied to Lower Tampa…

I was contacted today by folks who are involved with the Piney Point facility, to let me know about an item that may get some attention the next few days. My last email summarized how much better our water quality is – both Tampa Bay and Sarasota Bay – compared to the same time last…

As we enter the July 4th weekend, I think it’s worth noting how much better off we are – both Tampa and Sarasota Bays – compared to last year. For those who might not remember – Tampa Bay in the summer of 2021 was suffering through the worst red tide (in Middle Tampa Bay) since…

A bit of good news/bad news about the likelihood of red tides in the coming months. First, let’s do the “bad” news. If you’ve been watching the news about weather out west, it is incredibly hot and dry out there lately. Also, if you’ve been watching sunsets over the past few weeks (like I do)…

Earlier today, we visited 10 locations in the upper bay, including areas north and south of Longbar Point, on both the east and west sides of the bay. The farthest southeast we went was to the grass beds that are on the shoals west of the airport, about half a mile offshore of the runways.…

As you know, we have recently been quite excited about a potential turn-around in the health of Sarasota Bay. Our report card – shown below – shows evidence of the continued “good” health of Palma Sola Bay in 2021, along with a recovery of water quality in the Upper Bay from conditions that existed in…