Agencies working together on St. Johns River issues in northeast Florida

Northeast Florida’s section of the St. Johns River has been receiving a lot of attention in recent weeks for issues that are, in some cases, long-standing, and, in other cases, new. Some of the issues are fairly straightforward with known causes; others are more complex with as yet unknown causes.

The recent issues:

• Significant algal blooms (Caused by excess nutrients from sources such as urban stormwater runoff that carries landscape fertilizer and vegetation like leaves and grass clippings, and wastewater discharges)
• Deaths of several hundred fish (Being investigated by several state agencies and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, which has a web page dedicated to the issue)
• A proliferation of foam (Being investigated by several state agencies)

A positive result of these issues is the increased attention being given to the river’s water quality, and the recognition of the responsibility of government and residents to all work together to address the issues.

Jacksonville City Council President Jack Webb deserves credit for convening a panel of state agencies, Sen. John Thrasher, and the city’s mayor and other leaders last week to discuss the issues and agree to continue working together on identifying causes and long-term solutions.

Issues such as algal blooms are primarily the result of years of degradation of the river. Much has been done to address degraded water quality in the river in northeast Florida, much is being done, and much more needs to be done. Please take a look at our Big Picture Map of the river to get an idea of the financial resources that have, so far, gone into protecting and restoring the entire 310-mile-long river through land acquisition, the District’s water resource projects, and local government water resource projects that we have co-funded.

So, what can each of us do on a personal level? Numerous tips are on our “What you can do to reduce water pollution” web page.

We will keep you updated on the research and investigations of the current issues.