Overloads of pollutants like nitrogen and phosphorous contaminate Florida's waters, causing dangerous green algae blooms in many of our lakes, rivers, canals and estuaries. These pollutants come from sewage and wastewater plants, as well as industries like agriculture that use dangerous pesticides. We need you to tell the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to keep our waters clean and healthy!

Currently, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is in the process of developing water quality criteria for lakes and flowing waters in the state. Clean Water Action is concerned that DEP's standards do not go far enough to protect our water resources, public health, economy and communities. Here are a few of our concerns:

• DEP's proposal will use narrative standards - like "swimmable" or "fishable" - to regulate pollution instead of setting measurable number values to cap the amount of nitrogen and phosphorous that polluters can dump in our waters.
• The proposal does not protect downstream waters with measurable pollution caps. In other words, upstream polluters will not be held responsible for the negative impact of their actions on downstream water resources.
• The proposal will add additional steps to the already lengthy Impaired Waters listing process, which identifies polluted waters and allocates resources to improve water quality. This means cleanup efforts will be delayed or halted entirely. 

Take a stand for clean water! Submit your concerns to DEP today. Tell them Florida's waters deserve to be protected with measurable pollution standards prevent industries from degrading our valuable water resources. Comments are due by September 28, 2011. We need your voice, please take action today!

If you submit comments, send us a quick note to let us know at power@cleanwater.org.
We want to keep track of the many Floridians taking a stand for clean water!

For more information on this critical issue, contact Cara Capp at (561) 672-7638 or by email at ccapp@cleanwater.org.