SANIBEL-CAPTIVA CONSERVATION FOUNDATION

The Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation and The Everglades Foundation hosted the annual Everglades Update on Feb. 27 at the SCCF Bailey Homestead Preserve on Sanibel.

SCCF Chief Executive Officer James Evans moderated a panel of experts that included:

– Everglades Foundation Chief Economist Paul Hindsley

– SanCap Chamber of Commerce President and Chief Executive Officer John Lai

– SCCF Environmental Policy Director Matt DePaolis

Evans opened with an overview of how the greater Everglades ecosystem has been reduced in scope and structure over time since Florida was settled, including ditching and draining that has led to environmental problems in South Florida that continue today.

“One of the major goals of Everglades restoration is to restore the quantity, quality, timing and distribution of those flows to the Everglades and our northern estuaries as well as the Florida Bay,” he said, explaining that fixing the water flows will help to solve storage and water quality issues the state and region are experiencing, such as ecologically harmful discharges from Lake Okeechobee.

Hindsley then opened the panel discussion with a historical overview of the economy in Florida. He explained that what was once an economy of goods and extraction has shifted to an economy of services and a “clean water” economy.

“We know in South Florida that tourism, outdoor recreation and real estate play this really important role, and these are sectors of our economy that are directly impacted by changes in the flow of water and changes in the quality of water,” he said.

The panel discussed the economic report released by the SCCF, Conservancy of Southwest Florida and Captains of Clean Water earlier this year that shows how costly major harmful algal blooms can be to Southwest Florida’s economies — including $5.2 billion in local economic output and $17.8 billion in property values.

Lai brought his experience working in the tourism industry to the conversation, illustrating the impact that poor water quality can have on number of visitors, online reviews and jobs in Southwest Florida.

“We know very, very well how acutely the economy is tied to the ecology, and we’ve found out the hard way over and over again,” he said, explaining the impacts the 2018 red tide event had on visitation and tourism revenue in the region. “Everglades restoration is key to the future of what we do and how well we do it.”

The group went over some key projects underway as part of the federal Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, including the Caloosahatchee River (C-43) West Basin Storage Reservoir and Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) Reservoir.

“The EAA Reservoir will directly store water from Lake Okeechobee and then connect that water to stormwater treatment areas (STAs), which are essentially filter marshes,” DePaolis said.

The natural filtering system will clean polluted lake water, bringing it to acceptable levels for it to legally be able to be sent south to the Everglades instead of discharged to the northern estuaries.

“This is a hugely important project because it’s really the only one that we’re working toward right now that is going to have the amount of conveyance we need to be moving that water continuously into the Everglades,” he said. “This will replicate the conditions we used to historically see.”

Within the Caloosahatchee watershed, the C-43 Reservoir will be able to store additional water. DePaolis said while it will not “be the same sort of release valve when we’re talking about the lake releases like the EAA Reservoir will,” the reservoir will allow Southwest Florida more control over when and how water inputs enter the Caloosahatchee estuary. The expected completion is 2025.

An audience Q&A delved into the economic impacts of harmful water quality events, explored additional to store and clean water and stressed the importance of advocacy, coastal resiliency and individual actions to improve water quality.

“I think the take-home message is it’s important for you to continue to be advocates of Everglades restoration,” Evans said. “Reach out to your legislators and let them know how important Everglades restoration is to you. Act in your own backyard, plant native plants, reduce your fertilizer and irrigation use — there are big things you can do that will make a difference on our water quality.”