Water Defines Florida - Protecting Healthy Resources and Restoring Imperiled Ones

Keynote Speaker
Oral Presentation

Prepared by T. Frick
Florida DEP Division of Environmental Assessment and Restoration, , , United States


Contact Information: Melanie.Baino@dep.state.fl.us; (850) 245-8668


ABSTRACT

Water defines Florida. Protecting healthy resources and restoring imperiled ones is essential to economic well being, public health, and quality of life.  Persistent, aggressive bouts of blue-green algae and red tide, sometimes with toxic blooms, make poor water quality startlingly apparent, but water quality problems are typically more subtle and require robust monitoring efforts to discern.  The key everywhere is to identify the specific sources compromising water quality—monitoring and measurement are critical—to determine smart, targeted, and cost-effective responses.