What's the state of our water? Answers come from stakeholders at chamber event

Once a taken-for-granted bankable asset, Southwest Florida's degraded water quality is now a critical, contentious topic..

Water issues here have people scrambling for solutions.

A recent Chamber of Southwest Florida event was a case in point. Five stakeholders from very different sectors gathered Wednesday to offer insights on challenges and solutions to a crowd of more than 100.

That the event was organized by a chamber of commerce was telling. In recent decades, water woes have gone from something to be glossed over or minimized to a challenge to be confronted squarely by the business community.

Perspectives differed. While most of the five panelists rated the state of the region's water a solid C – seven out of 10 – Calusa Waterkeeper Codty Pierce gave it a failing four.

Here's some of what each panelist said:

Farmers, landowners working for water quality

Why does south Florida have such daunting water challenges? Consider the fact that most of us have settled in former swampland, says Ernie Barnett, executive director of the Florida Land Council, representing large property-holders throughout the state including King Ranch, Alico, Collier and Lipman interests. "A large portion of Southwest Florida lives in what used to be the historic Everglades," he pointed out, and the huge waterbody at the top of the system, Lake Okeechobee, has been vastly altered as well. "The lake used to expand and contract, but now it rises and falls like a bathtub."

Barnett said agriculture gets a bad rap, but farmers are deeply invested in water quality, with 86% enrolled in best management practices, designed to minimize water pollution. Contrary to popular belief, he said, "Ninety percent of nutrients that enter the lake come from big (weather) events" – not farm fields, groves or pastures.

'Mother Nature always gets a vote'

With less than a month on the job as the Jacksonville District commander, a territory that includes this region, Col. Brandon Bowman of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers explained his federal agency's role is complicated and cooperative.

He's in charge of the newly implemented Lake Okeechobee System Operating Manual , which governs discharges from the lake to the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie rivers. Created with years of stakeholder input and thousands of computer models, the result is a manual "that's very dynamic, very flexible," he said. The Corps' decisions, about lake releases, which can lead to devastating pollution and algae blooms, can now take into account the potential for such problems, with input from the South Florida Water Management District.

"In the Caloosahatchee estuary, when we do releases, we'll be keeping to the modest levels as possible." However, he said, "Mother Nature always gets a vote," and in the face of a big storm, "we're going to have to make hard choices."

Filling the 'education deficit'

Calusa Waterkeeper Capt. Codty Pierce heads a nonprofit, largely volunteer group that monitors and advocates for "drinkable, fishable, swimmable" water. A major challenge, the Florida native and fishing guise says, is the ongoing flood of newcomers who have little idea about how the region works, waterwise. "There's an education deficit. Most folks come to Florida because we like the climate and they're not up to date on the challenges. Our main priority is trying to educate those folks ... One person does make a difference."

His four-out-of-10 failing grade comes from his close-up contact with the region's water woes, monitoring for fecal bacteria, chasing pollution sources and working to clean up the river, creeks and coast. "This is coming from a person who's lived in Lee County his entire life. I've made a living from our natural resources," he said. "I am here to give you an option."

'All this progress that we're making is not by accident'

In the five years she's been on the governing board of the South Florida Water Management District, Marco Island resident Charlette Roman has witnessed "incredible momentum." The former Army colonel says she's watched progress on project after project with the goal of Everglades restoration and improved water quality, from massive reservoirs to pollution-cleansing filter marshes. Her 16-county district stretches from the Orlando area to the Keys and Florida Bay, moving a massive amount of water through canals that "would stretch from Washington D.C. to California."

How healthy are the Everglades thes: 'Great progress', great challenges

Roman credits Gov. Ron DeSantis for jump-starting what she calls "the golden era of Everglades restoration."

"He energized the projects that were going on at the time, added new priorities and projects and said 'Let's work to protect Florida's resources, clean our water and restore our Everglades'," she said, "And that changed everything." A key focus was a massive water storage project for the Caloosahatchee, the C-43 reservoir, just east of Lee County in Hendry County, she says. "We're laser-focused on accomplishing those priorities," she said, to rapid-fire applause led by Sanibel Mayor Richard Johnson.

Planning for seven generations beyond the present includes supporting agriculture

Dean of FGCU's Water School, Greg Tolley reminded the audience that beyond the challenges of the day, it's wise to heed the ancient Native American principle that decisions should be made in a way that considers their results for seven future generations.

The Water School is using multiple tools to help improve those decisions, from down-and-dirty field research to artificial intelligence to crunch big data into useful insights.

What happens on land impacts water, he says, and as more people flood into Florida, pressure mounts on farmers to sell out, he says. "When you're offered so many millions or billions of dollars for your land, the temptation is pretty good," Tolley said. "But agriculture is important to Florida – it's the history of Florida and agriculture actually helps preserve ecosystem services for us."

Getting the water right is no mere academic exercise, he says. "When we get the water wrong, the entire system can collapse."

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: What's the state of our water? Answers come from stakeholders at chamber event