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Winning Back Our Water
Let’s make sure we leave the waters that enrich our lives cleaner and healthier than we found them.
Winning Back Our Water
Solving Florida’s water crisis requires a multifaceted approach.
From Charlotte Harbor to the Indian River Lagoon — from Biscayne Bay to the Everglades — the state of Florida is defined by water. It laps against 8,436 miles of coastline, flows through over 1,700 rivers and streams, and fills more than 8,000 lakes and ponds, as well as the aquifers beneath it all. Florida’s waterways are central to Floridians’ way of life and livelihoods. They are also vital to the state’s recreational fishery, which has an annual economic impact of $13.9 billion and supports more than 120,000 jobs.
But it’s no secret that the Sunshine State has long struggled with water quality, producing a cascade of negative effects on the economy, the fishing and boating industries, freshwater and saltwater fisheries, coastal communities, as well as habitats, and human health. While progress has been made in recent years on several fronts, including the creation of the Blue-Green Algae Task Force and the groundbreaking of the EAA reservoir to help restore the Everglades, there is still much work to be done statewide to safeguard Florida’s most valuable natural resource — water.
The state’s water crisis does not have a singular cause. Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. Rather, a troubling slew of issues — including altered hydrology in the Everglades, outdated and failing wastewater infrastructure, excess nutrients, pharmaceutical contaminants, and glyphosate pollution. All of these have led to decades of environmental degradation in the form of seagrass die-offs, fish-kills, harmful algal blooms, worsening red tides, habitat loss, and contaminated water, fish, and prey.
To raise awareness of the problems as well as the solutions, Bonefish & Tarpon Trust (BTT) launched in November 2023 the Win Back Our Water campaign, which seeks to mobilize Floridians to take action to protect their state’s waterways. The campaign builds on BTT’s advocacy in support of Everglades restoration while sounding the alarm about the urgent need to modernize wastewater and stormwater infrastructure, curb excess nutrients and pharmaceutical contaminants, and greatly reduce the use of the herbicide glyphosate.
There’s no silver bullet. To solve Florida’s crisis, we must continue to advance Everglades restoration as we work to address these other issues threatening our water and fisheries throughout the state. If we do less, we’ll lose—and so will the next generation of anglers.
When it comes to Everglades restoration, there’s a lot of momentum and we can’t take our foot off the gas. Recent progress includes record state and federal funding in 2023, groundbreaking of the EAA reservoir south of Lake Okeechobee, and the nearly completed Tamiami Trail bridging to restore natural flows into Everglades National Park. Recent progress also includes the revision of the Lake Okeechobee System Operating Manual to allow for more flexibility in managing the lake’s levels and discharges, and the completion of the C-44 Reservoir and Stormwater Treatment Area to reduce nutrient loads and help balance salinity levels in the St. Lucie Estuary and Indian River Lagoon.
Looking ahead, BTT and its partners are focused on advocating for necessary funding and advancing key restoration priorities. These include planning for additional projects north and west of Lake Okeechobee in preparation for congressional authorization in the Water Resources Development Act. Other priorities are the Biscayne Bay Southern Everglades Ecosystem Restoration Project to improve salinity levels in the Bay and the ongoing construction of the C-43 Basin Storage Reservoir to help reduce nutrient-laden flows to the Caloosahatchee River Estuary.
Nutrient pollution, mainly nitrogen and phosphorous, is a major contributor to water quality problems statewide. High nutrient levels in Florida’s coastal waters, rivers, and estuaries cause harmful algal blooms and supercharge red tides, killing sportfish and their prey, shutting down public beaches, and ruining fishing trips and summer vacations. To reduce nutrient pollution, BTT is calling for Florida’s outmoded wastewater and stormwater infrastructure to be modernized, septic systems connected to sewer, and natural freshwater flows restored. Additionally, the Blue-Green Algae Task Force’s recommendations must be accelerated and fully implemented.
Development along Florida’s coasts continues to expand as the population grows, increasing stress on the state’s existing wastewater and stormwater infrastructure. And sea level rise is worsening urban flooding, which washes even more pollutants and nutrients into our waterways. The time to act is now. Let’s invest in modern infrastructure to make sewage spills, polluted stormwater runoff, and inadequately treated wastewater things of the past.
An unfortunate byproduct of Florida’s outdated wastewater infrastructure is the prescription drug pollution that’s impacting our sportfish. Recent BTT-funded studies by Florida International University discovered pharmaceutical contaminants in Florida’s bonefish and redfish as well as their prey. Researchers found an average of seven pharmaceuticals in the bonefish they sampled—and a shocking seventeen pharmaceuticals in a single fish! They found contaminated redfish across all nine of the estuaries in the study, with the highest number of detections in Apalachicola and Tampa Bay. Pharmaceuticals have been shown to negatively alter fish behavior, including feeding, spawning, and predator avoidance.
The results from these landmark studies were recently used to convince the city of Marathon to build a deep injection well rather than many shallow water injection wells, which allow wastewater to leach to the surface and contaminate coastal waters. This is a major victory for the Florida Keys’ water quality and sportfish. It’s also a testament to the positive impact that actionable science can have on our fisheries.
Another concerning contaminant is glyphosate, the key ingredient in many weedkillers. Glyphosate is widely used and enters our waterways from agricultural and stormwater runoff. A recent study by BTT partner Ocean Research and Conservation Association found glyphosate in 319 of 320 fish sampled in Indian River Lagoon, suggesting chronic exposure and underscoring the need to halt its use as well as update the outdated stormwater infrastructure that contributes to glyphosate pollution.
Legendary angler Flip Pallot lent his voice to the Win Back Our Water campaign, speaking out about glyphosate’s harmful impacts on Florida’s fisheries. Join Flip and BTT in opposing glyphosate by signing BTT’s coalition letter that calls on federal, state and local agencies to reduce and eventually eliminate the use of this controversial chemical throughout Florida.
What else can anglers do to help? Stay up-to-date on the current issues, spread the word about #winbackourwater on social media, and advocate for science-based solutions. The path forward is clear. As the campaign states, “Florida must continue to make immediate and significant policy changes and long-term investments in water quality and habitat conservation to halt the accelerating decline and give our ecosystems a chance at recovery.”
The future of the World Capital of Fishing is stake. Let’s make sure we leave the waters that enrich our lives cleaner and healthier than we found them. As anglers, it’s on us to help lead the charge.
Learn more at: BTT.org/WINBACKOURWATER.
Nick Roberts (@nick_onthefly) is the Director of Marketing & Communications at Bonefish & Tarpon Trust and the Editor of Bonefish & Tarpon Journal. He’s also a freelance writer who covers travel, fly fishing, and the environment.
Solving Florida’s water crisis requires a multifaceted approach.
From Charlotte Harbor to the Indian River Lagoon — from Biscayne Bay to the Everglades — the state of Florida is defined by water. It laps against 8,436 miles of coastline, flows through over 1,700 rivers and streams, and fills more than 8,000 lakes and ponds, as well as the aquifers beneath it all. Florida’s waterways are central to Floridians’ way of life and livelihoods. They are also vital to the state’s recreational fishery, which has an annual economic impact of $13.9 billion and supports more than 120,000 jobs.
But it’s no secret that the Sunshine State has long struggled with water quality, producing a cascade of negative effects on the economy, the fishing and boating industries, freshwater and saltwater fisheries, coastal communities, as well as habitats, and human health. While progress has been made in recent years on several fronts, including the creation of the Blue-Green Algae Task Force and the groundbreaking of the EAA reservoir to help restore the Everglades, there is still much work to be done statewide to safeguard Florida’s most valuable natural resource — water.
The state’s water crisis does not have a singular cause. Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. Rather, a troubling slew of issues — including altered hydrology in the Everglades, outdated and failing wastewater infrastructure, excess nutrients, pharmaceutical contaminants, and glyphosate pollution. All of these have led to decades of environmental degradation in the form of seagrass die-offs, fish-kills, harmful algal blooms, worsening red tides, habitat loss, and contaminated water, fish, and prey.
To raise awareness of the problems as well as the solutions, Bonefish & Tarpon Trust (BTT) launched in November 2023 the Win Back Our Water campaign, which seeks to mobilize Floridians to take action to protect their state’s waterways. The campaign builds on BTT’s advocacy in support of Everglades restoration while sounding the alarm about the urgent need to modernize wastewater and stormwater infrastructure, curb excess nutrients and pharmaceutical contaminants, and greatly reduce the use of the herbicide glyphosate.
There’s no silver bullet. To solve Florida’s crisis, we must continue to advance Everglades restoration as we work to address these other issues threatening our water and fisheries throughout the state. If we do less, we’ll lose—and so will the next generation of anglers.
When it comes to Everglades restoration, there’s a lot of momentum and we can’t take our foot off the gas. Recent progress includes record state and federal funding in 2023, groundbreaking of the EAA reservoir south of Lake Okeechobee, and the nearly completed Tamiami Trail bridging to restore natural flows into Everglades National Park. Recent progress also includes the revision of the Lake Okeechobee System Operating Manual to allow for more flexibility in managing the lake’s levels and discharges, and the completion of the C-44 Reservoir and Stormwater Treatment Area to reduce nutrient loads and help balance salinity levels in the St. Lucie Estuary and Indian River Lagoon.
Looking ahead, BTT and its partners are focused on advocating for necessary funding and advancing key restoration priorities. These include planning for additional projects north and west of Lake Okeechobee in preparation for congressional authorization in the Water Resources Development Act. Other priorities are the Biscayne Bay Southern Everglades Ecosystem Restoration Project to improve salinity levels in the Bay and the ongoing construction of the C-43 Basin Storage Reservoir to help reduce nutrient-laden flows to the Caloosahatchee River Estuary.
Nutrient pollution, mainly nitrogen and phosphorous, is a major contributor to water quality problems statewide. High nutrient levels in Florida’s coastal waters, rivers, and estuaries cause harmful algal blooms and supercharge red tides, killing sportfish and their prey, shutting down public beaches, and ruining fishing trips and summer vacations. To reduce nutrient pollution, BTT is calling for Florida’s outmoded wastewater and stormwater infrastructure to be modernized, septic systems connected to sewer, and natural freshwater flows restored. Additionally, the Blue-Green Algae Task Force’s recommendations must be accelerated and fully implemented.
Development along Florida’s coasts continues to expand as the population grows, increasing stress on the state’s existing wastewater and stormwater infrastructure. And sea level rise is worsening urban flooding, which washes even more pollutants and nutrients into our waterways. The time to act is now. Let’s invest in modern infrastructure to make sewage spills, polluted stormwater runoff, and inadequately treated wastewater things of the past.
An unfortunate byproduct of Florida’s outdated wastewater infrastructure is the prescription drug pollution that’s impacting our sportfish. Recent BTT-funded studies by Florida International University discovered pharmaceutical contaminants in Florida’s bonefish and redfish as well as their prey. Researchers found an average of seven pharmaceuticals in the bonefish they sampled—and a shocking seventeen pharmaceuticals in a single fish! They found contaminated redfish across all nine of the estuaries in the study, with the highest number of detections in Apalachicola and Tampa Bay. Pharmaceuticals have been shown to negatively alter fish behavior, including feeding, spawning, and predator avoidance.
The results from these landmark studies were recently used to convince the city of Marathon to build a deep injection well rather than many shallow water injection wells, which allow wastewater to leach to the surface and contaminate coastal waters. This is a major victory for the Florida Keys’ water quality and sportfish. It’s also a testament to the positive impact that actionable science can have on our fisheries.
Another concerning contaminant is glyphosate, the key ingredient in many weedkillers. Glyphosate is widely used and enters our waterways from agricultural and stormwater runoff. A recent study by BTT partner Ocean Research and Conservation Association found glyphosate in 319 of 320 fish sampled in Indian River Lagoon, suggesting chronic exposure and underscoring the need to halt its use as well as update the outdated stormwater infrastructure that contributes to glyphosate pollution.
Legendary angler Flip Pallot lent his voice to the Win Back Our Water campaign, speaking out about glyphosate’s harmful impacts on Florida’s fisheries. Join Flip and BTT in opposing glyphosate by signing BTT’s coalition letter that calls on federal, state and local agencies to reduce and eventually eliminate the use of this controversial chemical throughout Florida.
What else can anglers do to help? Stay up-to-date on the current issues, spread the word about #winbackourwater on social media, and advocate for science-based solutions. The path forward is clear. As the campaign states, “Florida must continue to make immediate and significant policy changes and long-term investments in water quality and habitat conservation to halt the accelerating decline and give our ecosystems a chance at recovery.”
The future of the World Capital of Fishing is stake. Let’s make sure we leave the waters that enrich our lives cleaner and healthier than we found them. As anglers, it’s on us to help lead the charge.
Learn more at: BTT.org/WINBACKOURWATER.
Nick Roberts (@nick_onthefly) is the Director of Marketing & Communications at Bonefish & Tarpon Trust and the Editor of Bonefish & Tarpon Journal. He’s also a freelance writer who covers travel, fly fishing, and the environment.
Winning Back Our Water
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