Published September 16, 2002
A handful of Southwest Florida waterways have dropped from a state list of polluted waters that is expected to pave the way for cleansing work in some of the area's most important creeks, rivers and bays.
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection finalized what's known as the impaired water bodies list in recent weeks and is expected to send that list to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for review by Oct. 1. The Environmental Protection Agency will have 30 days to review the list and deliver comments to DEP officials.
The impaired waters rule, which is intended to create a list of Florida waters that are polluted and formulate a plan for addressing the contamination, has been controversial. Some groups, such as the Clean Water Network, have criticized the rule for not being stringent enough, and several environmental groups challenged the rule in court.
Draft lists released over the summer suggested that Estero Bay was not polluted, although virtually all of its tributaries were. Some of those tributaries, including the Imperial River, have now been taken off the list.
The change came when the Department of Environmental Protection concluded segments of those tributaries were freshwater, not marine. Changing the classification means higher levels of pollutants like chlorophyll are acceptable.
"Based on input (the Department of Environmental Protection) got from residents in the area, certain segments were freshwater as opposed to marine," said Jerry Brooks with DEP's Division of Water Resource Management.
Brooks said DEP officials reviewed their monitoring stations within the tributaries and came to the same conclusion.
Locally, some environmental groups have contested the freshwater designation. The issue came up at last week's Estero Bay Agency on Bay Management meeting.
ABM chair Jim Beever said the tributaries receive brackish water from the estuaries during most of the year.
"It would result in not being listed as impaired if you consider it freshwater instead ofestuarine," Beever said. "That's apparently what happened with Estero Bay tributaries. I think DEP has made an error here."
The impaired list eventually will pave the way for the development of a list of maximum pollutant loads for each water body. Those maximum loads will detail what pollutants are considered too high for the water body to function properly. That's expected to happen in 2007 for the Southwest Florida coast.
The list EPA will see on Oct. 1 has Hendry Creek, Mullock Creek and the Cocohatchee River listed for dissolved oxygen. Spring Creek is listed for lead. Lake Trafford is listed for nutrients and mercury in fish tissue. Other areas in Southwest Florida are listed for mercury and bacteria in shellfish.
Nutrient levels in Hendry Creek, the Imperial River and Spring Creek, all Estero Bay tributaries, are now considered low enough to not warrant the setting of maximum pollution loads.ABM members like Beever were hoping that the Department of Environmental Protection would change the freshwater designation for Estero Bay tributaries before the list goes to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Darryl Joyner, program administrator at the DEP's Bureau of Watershed Management, said the list has been finalized and work on maximum pollutant loads will begin soon.
"They're kind of set in stone, barring someone challenging a listing legally," Joyner said.