Adverse Water Quality Event in the Lower keys

Adverse Water Quality Event in the Lower Keys

What happened to Lower Keys Water Quality this summer?

Lower Keys residents sounded alarm bells this summer, asking, “what’s happening with our nearshore and canal waters?”

Last Stand was contacted by residents on Cudjoe Key disturbed by the smelly greenish-brown waters in their canals.  I saw some of the same issues in my small, normally clear canal on Summerland Key.  Residents told us, “I’ve lived here for 30 years and I’ve never seen anything like this”.

What’s going on?

Last Stand Board Members visited one of the canals in question and recommended water with laboratory analyses for sucralose.  Sucralose is not found in nature, only in human feces.  Therefore, it’s a key indicator of the presence of human sewage effluent in the salt water. At the concentrations recorded by scientists at Florida International University, some of the water samples we took indicated human impact on the environment.  Board Member Don DeMaria stated, “there was definitely something wrong – the water was extremely smelly, murky and greenish-brown.  It was obvious we were experiencing the worst algae bloom that many of us had ever seen in the Keys”. 

We all know this summer had record temperatures for months – both air and ocean temperatures.  Further, the water levels of Lake Okeechobee are typically lowered in late summer as the peak of the hurricane season approaches.  These lake water discharges via the Caloosahatchee River are known to create algae blooms throughout the west coast of Florida.  USF’s Dr. Brian LaPointe posted the following image on social media in mid-August – showing an algae bloom extending from Tampa all the way down to the Keys.  Notice how the Lower Keys are directly in line with this bloom?

We know discharges from Lake Okeechobee contribute to algae blooms, but our own waters are part of the problem, too.  The warmer ocean temperatures spur the development of algae, but there need to be nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorous) present in the water to create a toxic bloom. As one friend explained, you can pour tap water in a pan and heat it all the way up to boiling point, and no algae forms.  It’s the presence of nutrients that’s the culprit.

Why is the Water Quality Still Bad Here?

Decades ago, the Keys were required to stop using cesspits, septic tanks, small package plants with shallow wells, and switch to centralized sewering.  The Florida legislature provided for increased protection of our waters, different from the rest of the state because of our high ground-water table (fresh water floats on top of salt water), narrow islands, and the extremely porous nature of the limestone rock which makes up the Keys. The Legislature enacted a special law for the Keys, called the Monroe County Rule, Section 403.086, which required wastewater dischargers to comply with the Monroe County Sanitary Wastewater Plan. Marathon’s requirement was to use a deep well to dispose of its sewage effluent, but Marathon – as well as a number of other sites in the Keys – decided to dispose of their partially-treated sewage down shallow wells – just 90-120’ deep.  That use of shallow sewage wells enabled the buoyant sewage effluent to rise quickly through the conduits and caverns in our islands’ porous limestone geology into our canals and nearshore waters.  Much of the Keys’ waters are still impaired with too much nitrogen and phosphorous, according to the EPA, DEP and Marine Sanctuary.

Can Keys Water Quality be Improved?

 Water pollution comes from many sources on its way past the Keys. But the pollution from shallow sewage wells comes up in our nearshore waters, the nurseries for our fisheries and the playground for our kids. It’s one of the few pollution issues we have control over. Keys’ residents need to speak up and demand the end of shallow wells to dispose of human waste.  

One citizen group, Friends of the Lower Keys (FOLKs), sued Marathon under the federal Clean Water Act, to stop the use of shallow sewage wells. Last Stand supports that action, and Marathon and FOLKs are currently working under a settlement agreement.  Marathon is exploring alternative waste disposal methods and will choose one. If FOLKs agrees, the case will be settled. But FOLKs wants to hear from Keys’ residents and encourages you to weigh in on which alternative you prefer through a simple poll (please click this link to participate):  YOUR INPUT ON MARATHON’S OUTPUT. 

But What Happened in the Lower Keys this Summer?

Preliminary water quality tests have indicated the presence of sucralose in high enough concentrations to mean human sewage is having an impact on the environment!  Ewwh! Is this water from a shallow sewage well (water does move all around the Keys)? Was there some sort of sewer line break? FKAA reports “no”, but there are multiple Pollution Notices from the Florida DEP showing whole sections of sewer lines were not even connected to the main lines on Big Pine Key and 72,000 gallons of raw sewage poured into the ground.  How many other neighborhoods were not connected? 

Also, water samples taken by Last Stand Board Members, and shipped to a lab in South Carolina, helped identify the species of algae responsible for the algal bloom as Oocystis – an algae associated with brackish water and sewage.  One theory popular among some researchers, is that the water discharges from Southwest Florida, especially Lake Okeechobee through the Caloosahatchee, provided the “seed” for the algal bloom in the Keys. As this mass of water moved south, it encountered the nutrient-rich waters of the Keys and began to grow.  The hot water we experienced during this same time period accelerated the growth of the algae bloom.

 -- LAKE OKEECHOBEE DISCHARGES REACHING THE KEYS AT THE SAME TIME WATER TEMERATURES WERE AT THE HIGHEST ALONG WITH HIGH NUTRIENTS TO FUEL ALGAL GROWTH—THE ‘PERFECT STORM’ ALL THE FACTORS CAME TOGETHER AT ONCE PRODUCING THE BIGGEST AND NASTIEST ALGAL BLOOM ANY OF US CAN REMEMBER IN THE FLORIDA KEYS. 

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