Last year, according to Visit Florida, 122.4 million tourists visited the Sunshine State. What most of those visitors did not know was that they were visiting the state that ranks No. 1 in the United States for total acres of lakes classified as impaired for swimming and aquatic life (873,340 acres), and second for total lake acres listed as impaired for any use (935,808 acres). This is according to a new report from the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP). Chances are you will not find that data on the Visit Florida home page.
The name of the report is “The Clean Water Act at 50: Promises Half Kept at the Half Century Mark.” I will not just pick on Florida. According to EIP, Louisiana ranks first in the number of impaired estuaries.
According to EIP, not only does water pollution threaten Florida’s reputation as a holiday getaway, but it also jeopardizes the health of the Everglades, which are home to numerous rare and endangered species. Toxic algal blooms have become an almost annual event fed by fertilizer runoff from farms and subdivisions.
‘Direct Result of Lax Enforcement’
“Florida’s toxic-algae crisis is the direct result of lax enforcement of phosphorus and nitrogen pollution limits in cleanup plans required by the Clean Water Act,” said Eve Samples, Executive Director of the Friends of the Everglades. “Because these limits rely on voluntary ‘best management practices and a presumption of compliance, agricultural polluters regularly exceed phosphorus runoff limits while dodging responsibility.”
“The Clean Water Act should be celebrated on its 50th birthday for making America’s waterways significantly cleaner,” said Eric Schaeffer, Executive Director of the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) and former Director of Civil Enforcement at EPA. “However, we need more funding, stronger enforcement, and better control of farm runoff to clean up waters that are still polluted after half a century. Let’s give EPA and states the tools they need to finish the job—we owe that much to our children and to future generations.”
The U.S. Congress passed the federal Clean Water Act in a series of votes from March to October of 1972 as a crowning achievement of the environmental movement. The law promised fishable and swimmable waters no later than 1983, and the elimination of all discharges of pollutants into navigable waters by 1985. But the Clean Water Act has fallen far short of achieving these ambitious goals. Among the reasons for that shortfall include the law’s weak to nonexistent controls for runoff pollution from farms, according to the new report. Other shortfalls include budget cuts to federal and state environmental agencies, the failure of government to enforce pollution limits, and toothless cleanup plans called “Total Maximum Daily Loads” or TMDLs.
EPA Has Neglected Its Duty
One major problem, according to EIP’s report, is that EPA has neglected its duty under the federal Clean Water Act to periodically review and update technology-based limits for water pollution control systems used by industries. By 2022, two-thirds of EPA’s industry-specific water pollution limits have not been updated in more than three decades, despite the law’s mandate for reviews every five years to keep pace with advances in treatment technologies.
These badly outdated standards mean more pollution from oil refineries, chemical plants, slaughterhouses, and other industries pouring into waterways than we would have if these standards had been updated on schedule.
Although the most recent available state water quality reports to EPA make clear that about half of assessed river and stream miles and lake acres are impaired, the true extent of the nation’s water pollution is unknown because few states monitor all their waterways as required.
Due to limited funding and budget cuts, many state environmental agencies do not have the staff to test all their waters within mandated time periods—usually between six and 10 years, depending on state rules. For example, Missouri and Arkansas assessed only five percent of their river and stream miles in the most recent assessment period, according to EIP’s report. Across the United States, 73 percent of rivers and stream miles were not studied during the most recent assessment cycle, and the same is true for 49 percent of lake acres and 24 percent of bay areas.
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