Water pollution affects us all; our health, quality of life, property values... Florida's weather, beautiful beaches and rivers attract people to visit and live here. The health of our waters is important to our local economy because visitors and locals like to fish, dive, visit the beaches, and eat the seafood. Poor water quality caused by pollution can limit these activities and hurt our economy. Lee County has experienced declining water quality over the last several years due to increased pollution from increasing human populations, development, automobile exhaust, overuse of fertilizer and more.
Natural phenomena such as hurricanes accelerate declines in water quality by increasing stormwater pollution runoff to local water bodies. The results are harmful algal blooms; human and wildlife health problems; economic problems; and periodic closures of our shell fisheries.
The major pollutant of concern in Lee County is nutrients, specifically nitrogen. There are many sources of nutrients entering our water bodies: natural decomposition of plants, contributions from wildlife and domestic animals, atmospheric deposition, development, automobile exhaust, septic tanks and fertilizer use, to name a few. Nutrients are naturally occurring in water bodies. However, excess nutrients added to the landscape and water through human activity is pollution.