Regional Fertilizer Guidelines Focus of TBEP Workshops

Tampa Bay Estuary Program will facilitate a series of workshops to develop regional, science-based guidelines for the appropriate use of residential fertilizers. Once complete, local governments could incorporate the guidelines into local ordinances if they choose.

“Citizens are calling local government officials, who are calling us,” said Nanette O’Hara, TBEP public outreach coordinator. Developing regional guidelines would ensure that residents receive the same advice wherever they live and avoid confusion among lawn care professionals who often cross city and county lines.

Implementing appropriate fertilizer guidelines could reduce nutrients in stormwater runoff, which has become the single most-damaging contaminant in Tampa Bay and its watershed. Excess nutrients, including nitrogen and phosphorus, fuel the growth of algae which blocks sunlight and depletes oxygen.

For more information, visit www.tbep.org or call 727-893-2765.

Tampa Bay Water Identifies 15 Projects for Future Study

After a year-long series of public meetings, Tampa Bay Water has whittled more than 300 proposed projects down to a shortlist of 15 proposals for in-depth study over the next year. Each project was screened against three goals identified in the workshops and adopted by the Tampa Bay Water board: environmental stewardship, cost and reliability.

The projects listed at www.futurewater.org are not prioritized, notes Paula Dye, TBW’s project manager. “Over the next few months we’ll go through those projects, update demand projections and come back to the board with a long-term plan later this year.”

The first in a series of public meetings on the projects is scheduled for May 1 at Newsome High School in Fishhawk Ranch to review expanding the reservoir in southeast Hillsborough County.

Overfertilized Lawns Encourage Chinch Bugs

Along with damaging underwater ecosystems, too much fertilizer appears to encourage chinch bungs in St. Augustine lawn, according to a new University of Florida study.

UF turfgrass experts advise homeowners to use no more than a pound of slow-release nitrogen fertilizer per 1,000 square feet of lawn. In the study, Southern chinch bugs produced the most eggs on lawns fed the equivalent of two pounds nitrogen per 1,000 square feet per month. That is a worst-case scenario, said Eileen Buss, an associate professor of entomology with UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, but not unrealistic because people sometimes deliberately overfertilize to have the greenest lawn in the neighborhood.

With the insects producing a new generation every four to six weeks during Florida summers, increased egg-laying could lead to rapid population growth in overfed lawns. And Hillsborough County chinch bugs are rapidly becoming resistant to the most commonly used pesticide.

Conservation Group Releases Video on Coastal Issues

“Higher Ground: The Battle to Save Florida’s Beaches,” a new documentary from the world’s oldest sea turtle conservation group, has been released to generate public debate about the complex issues affecting the health and sustainability of Florida’s beaches.

The documentary, developed by Caribbean Conservation Corp. can be viewed online at http://www.cccturtle.org/higherground. It reports that almost half of the 829 miles of sandy beach in Florida are categorized as “critically eroding.” The root causes are poorly sited coastal development, inadequate coastal construction setback policies, sea wall construction, stronger and more frequent erosion-causing storms and rising sea levels.

As private properties along the coast are threatened by erosion, panicked beachfront residents and resource managers are looking for relief through costly, repetitive beach nourishment projects and the construction of unsightly and harmful sea walls. Meanwhile, state and federal subsidies continue to encourage shoreline development by providing low-cost insurance for the riskiest beachfront developments.

Caught in the middle are the threatened and endangered sea turtles that nest on Florida beaches, home to 90% of all sea turtle nesting in the United States. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission reports that loggerhead nest counts decreased nearly 50% from 1998 to 2007.

2008 Gulf Guardian Applications Due May 1

The Gulf of Mexico Program is accepting applications for their Gulf Guardian Awards through May 1. Created in 2000 to recognize environmental excellence in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, Gulf Guardians are recognized in eight categories.

Criteria for the awards include innovation, measurable benefits to the gulf, educational impacts, cooperative efforts and its long-term impact beyond legal requirements.

For more information, visit http://www.epa.gov/gmpo/gulfguard.html.

Keep Pharmaceuticals Out of Drinking Water

Recent national reports about drugs in drinking water prompted the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and Florida Department of Health to remind Floridians to properly dispose of unwanted medications.
“While the issue of pharmaceuticals and personal care products in water is not new, current media coverage on the topic may prompt concern among consumers,” said State Surgeon General Ana Viamonte Ros, MD, MPH. “So far, these chemicals have been found at extremely low concentrations and current research has not demonstrated an impact on human health at the trace levels at which they have been found.”

Other scientists say the issue warrants more concern. The easiest way to address it may be to prevent pharmaceuticals from entering wastewater in the first place because most wastewater treatment plants are not designed to remove medications.

Officials suggest that unwanted drugs should be discarded with household trash rather than flushed down the drain. To prevent accidental ingestion, add water to pills and inedible material like dirt or pepper to liquids. Leave the medicines in their original container, and place them in a larger container like an empty coffee can or juice carton, then hide that container in household trash. Do not place in the recycle bin.

For more information, visit http://www.dep.state.fl.us/waste/categories/medications/default.htm.