Florida population at 23 million makes waterway challenge
BY VAN HUBBARD
I understand that with our increased numbers fishing will not be as easy ever again. Millions of new participants, fewer fish and numerous regulations, plus habitat devastation all add to my challenges. Also, increased turbidity from boat wakes prevents crucial sunlight from reaching the seagrasses and reduces our sight fishing. I’m considering that, because I spent so much time on the water in the past, it increased my odds and opportunities to discover good action. We have grown – it’s scary how much. Remember there is a price to pay for the environmental damage and money that development generates.
I’m not advocating for zero growth; just at a point we might consider how much is too much. What is sustainable to preserve our standard of living? We can’t do anything to toss out folks already here, but we might consider a statewide impact fee or some tool/tools to fund the additional costs necessary for infrastructure improvements created by the addition of more people! I’m interested in vetted, thought-out solutions, not picking fights.
My desire is to have new folks compensate proportionally for their costs to our systems and environments. New construction impact fees would increase values of existing structures, both residential and commercial.
We need to consider the long-term effects of everything we do to our environments. Every structure adds to our problems. Every square foot of blacktop adds heat! Actions create reactions. I believe the increased black top roads, parking lots and rooftops influence the temperatures. Grassy pastures and forests create oxygen and shade. Erase any doubt by trying to stand barefoot on a blacktop road on a sunny afternoon! I see Interstate 75 block our afternoon showers most days. Monitor the radar. We used to set a clock by those showers, they cooled the evenings off. Now just watch them sit and build, blocked by the heat and emissions from the blacktop and traffic. It requires a strong storm to cross that barrier.
It’s obvious that more people and vehicles increase waste. Think about this please. With less people our wastewater mingled at an irrelevant rate, but now, with millions of gallons more, this increase creates enormous problems. Our state’s population is about 23 million, add millions of snowbirds and then a hundred plus million visitors and it adds up to a lot of sewage. Our future and quality of life are at risk. Hundreds of gallons of minimally treated wastewater in waterways can be absorbed with minimal effects. Hundreds of millions of gallons of wastewater creates problems. It can feed red tides and feed algae growth. This alga smothers our seagrass habitats.
Everyone sees how congested our roads are. Boaters see similar congestion, especially on weekends and holidays. I saw a piece in the Sun recently that stated we have 90,000 single family homes already permitted in Charlotte County now. New developments are sprouting up everywhere. Just look at River Road or Gasparilla Road. Our population is over 200,000 now and this alone could double that. We add our snowbirds and visitors to Florida, and it gets scary.
Our roads and highways can’t handle the existing traffic, especially in season. I went to Orlando last week for the ICAST tackle show, and traffic on Interstate 4 was stop and go all day long! Interstate 75 traffic is congested half of the time now. If any road has an accident, it shuts down for hours. Winter tourist season is double or triple the people and traffic. What are our leaders doing to cope with this mess?
Our sewage treatment is inadequate currently and pushed to its limits frequently. We hear of varied problems initiating spills frequently, some large. The current treatment itself is grossly inadequate! Pharmaceuticals and chemicals are not removed and show up in fish and marine animals. Birth control chemicals, opioids, depressants and many more will have effects on growth and reproduction of wildlife and create mutations. Look at the pharmaceutical ads and sales, this is a lot of drugs/poisons going into our waters.
The costs to bring sewage treatment up to any reasonable removal of the chemicals is scary. The only thing scarier is to continue to allow contaminants to pollute our water, and in turn pollute fish and wildlife. Just the costs to increase our drinking water and transport it are crazy expensive. Costs of trying to widen our roads and create new ones are staggering. First to just locate suitable land and permit, which takes years, then actual construction costs are astonishing.
I’m not picking on new construction, just asking them to pay their way. Help us take responsibility for our actions.
Since 1981, Capt. Van Hubbard (75), has been a local fishing captain in Boca Grande. He first began writing for the Boca Beacon in 1988.
