Buchanan leads roundtable on red tide to address water quality concerns

Jesse Mendoza, Sarasota Herald-Tribune
·3 min read
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U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan hosted local leaders Friday morning for a red tide forum at the Beach House Waterfront Restaurant on Bradenton Beach. The discussion included red tide's effects on humans and marine life, tourism, and mitigation efforts.
U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan hosted local leaders Friday morning for a red tide forum at the Beach House Waterfront Restaurant on Bradenton Beach. The discussion included red tide's effects on humans and marine life, tourism, and mitigation efforts.
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Red tide is showing signs of improvement this week along the Sarasota and Manatee coast, bringing about some of the best beach conditions the region has seen in weeks.

But after several recent beach closures, U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan and a group of stakeholders from local municipalities, businesses and advocacy organizations called for increased attention to water quality issues during a roundtable discussion Friday at the Beach House Waterfront Restaurant in Bradenton Beach.

"Florida's economy is built on the coast, and we are seeing harmful algal blooms and water quality issues come more, longer, and stronger," Beach House Owner Ed Chiles said. "What feeds it? Nutrient loading. Nutrients are the gas on the fire. We're not going to stop it, it is a naturally occurring organism, but when these waters have got all of that nutrients and the bloom comes in then it exacerbates and then it gets to be a bigger problem."

In case you missed it:Red tide clears up, but thunderstorms are in the forecast this weekend in Sarasota and Manatee

More:Red tide in Sarasota-Manatee: Critical weeks ahead as tourist season heats up

And:Even with persistent red tide, Sarasota waterfront business is booming

Red tide is caused by a single-celled organism called Karenia Brevis, and although water quality issues are complex, much of the ongoing effort aims to curb the amount of nitrogen that flows into the gulf from local communities.

"When I first started doing this, which was 15 years ago, we got no interest, no donations, and no money from anybody who lived west of U.S. 41," said Sandy Gilbert, CEO of the Longboat Key-based Solutions To Avoid Red Tide nonprofit. "It was a beach problem. Now, most of my projects are 15 to 20 miles from here working with stormwater ponds, cleaning them up before they run into the bay and into the Gulf."

Sandy Gilbert, President and CEO of START (Solutions to Avoid Red Tide) talks about his organizations efforts to improve water quality locally. Gilbert was one of several local leaders to speak at a red tide forum hosted by U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan at the Beach House Waterfront Restaurant on Bradenton Beach.
Sandy Gilbert, President and CEO of START (Solutions to Avoid Red Tide) talks about his organizations efforts to improve water quality locally. Gilbert was one of several local leaders to speak at a red tide forum hosted by U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan at the Beach House Waterfront Restaurant on Bradenton Beach.

Gilbert asked Buchanan to help steer policy to take similar approaches with major areas of concern, such as Lake Okeechobee water releases by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that are believed to help fuel algal blooms along Florida's Gulf Coast because of elevated nutrient levels in the water.

Buchanan and local officials highlighted several ways they have already helped address red tide during the event, including the Protecting Local Communities from Harmful Algal Blooms Act, which he introduced in congress this January to include algal blooms in the definition of a “major disaster.”

Buchanan has previously secured $8 million for red tide research and backed a proposal signed into law by President Trump to provide more than $100 million to combat harmful algal blooms. In 2019, the U.S. House approved Buchanan’s measure to direct the National Institutes of Health to designate $6.25 million to research the long-term health effects of red tide.

U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan hosted a roundtable discussion with stakeholders concerns about water quality and ways to mitigate red tide in Sarasota and Manatee.
U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan hosted a roundtable discussion with stakeholders concerns about water quality and ways to mitigate red tide in Sarasota and Manatee.

"We've got a lot of challenges with red tide," Buchanan said. "We've got to figure out what can we do. It's a natural occurrence, but I'm sure we aggravate it. When I think about 1970, we had 7 million people today we've got 22 million, 23 million. It doubles in the (tourist) season. That has a huge impact, on top of all of the runoff and everything else."

Manatee County Chairman Kevin Van Ostenbridge highlighted a $1.3 billion investment planned upgrades to county infrastructure over the next 5 years. The effort includes the replacement of old sewer lines and the complete rehabilitation of two out of the county's three wastewater filtration systems.

"Sarasota County recently did their largest CIP project ever and it was focused on clean water, it was focused on wastewater," Van Ostenbridge said. "We're doing the exact same thing. We're looking at utility rates because we may have to adjust utility rates in order to do this. But when it comes to the quality of life of our citizens, when it comes to the cleanliness of our water, we know that is a primary of government. We know that it's a focus and a priority for our citizens."

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Vern Buchanan leads roundtable on red tide to address water quality