Red Tide that bad??? (Miami: floor, linear, manufacturing)

[MattMN]

Originally Posted by bmw335xi

On a side note, what's the best website that tracks red tide/water quality. All this talk of it makes me want to visit a beach.

This is the the best site. Mote runs it. Has a lot of detail for each beach - last visited date, red drift, respiratory conditions, dead fish, etc.
https://visitbeaches.org/

[beach43ofus]

Siesta Key Beach was fine yesterday. Nice crowd. Water not as Brown as it was, and no dead fish, no bad smell, and no respiratory issues. Red Tide seems to be going away just in time for the wave of snowbirds coming down late next month.

So long as the Westerly wind direction hold up, its all good.

[bmw335xi]

I have visitors and wanted to take them tk siesta key but the weather forecast looks scary

[bmw335xi]

Originally Posted by MattMN

This is the the best site. Mote runs it. Has a lot of detail for each beach - last visited date, red drift, respiratory conditions, dead fish, etc.
https://visitbeaches.org/

Thanks! Yes I ended up on that page when I searched Mote on the other post.

[wondermint2]

Hurricane Michaels Winds Could Raise A Stink:
https://www.heraldtribune.com/news/2...ld-raise-stink

[srq57]

'No swim' advisories issued for Sarasota County beaches - Story | FOX 13 Tampa Bay

[motordavid]

Due to enterococcus bacteria...that bug originates in human and other mammal intestinal tracts.

I don't think the red tide organisms produce that.
GL, mD

[motordavid]

Originally Posted by handy99

No, but it is the indicator they use currently to mean "poop"- which is, again, man made pollution.

"In 2004, Enterococci sp. took the place of fecal coliforms as the new USA federal standard for water quality at public saltwater beaches" (Wikipedia)

As you know, it isn't just that bacteria alone that is in there - it is all the stuff that contains that bacteria (the bacteria is just the indicator). It is very likely that such dirty water (containing septic tank runoff, sewer overflows and other such items) is plenty full of nutrients - and those feed the red tide.

Unfortunately, I don't think telling tourists that there is less red tide but more poo is going to do the real trick of making Florida enticing to nature lovers.
My family is moving inland this year (Gainesville) although not specifically for this reason. I hope that once all the snowbirds and tourists come down this year that there will be pressure put on all the politicians (new and old) to clean up everything. Even the law to force septic tank owners to get an inspection failed. That's terrible.

I knew all that, Bio was one of my majors and I stayed awake in class, back in the '60s...I should have used a tongue in cheek emoticon, if they had one here.

The elected idiots will trot out their staff's 'reports' and mea culpas and reiterate their desire to 'effort forward', do 'studies', throw a few misdirected million(s) at 'projects', but the sea change necessary won't happen any time soon, imo.
GL, mD

[beach43ofus]

I guess nobody reads the local news where they said the beach closings are mostly due to natural causes as a result of Michael.

I hate to disappoint you all, but the sky is not falling. We'll all be fine. You'll be fine. You will die of natural causes, not by pollution.

Why do you need other people to change the way they live to make you happy while you change nothing? The gigs up, and we see right through you. We need you to change your polluting ways to make us happy.

[WRnative]

Repairing or replacing septic tanks, let alone replacing septic tanks with a sewer system and water treatment plant (perhaps a cheaper and better alternative in many locations) is very expensive for most households. Floridians, as evidenced by the state's election of man-made climate change deniers, appear unwilling to sacrifice what it takes to maintain their environment. As described in the following article, Floridians rebelled when a law was passed requiring them to maintain their septic tanks, and the election of Rick Scott and repeal of the law was one consequence.

Leaking septic tanks are described in this article as pouring fuel on the fire in relation to red tide blooms. Rick Scott even today denies that the repeal of the septic tank mandatory inspection law had any consequence to toxic algal blooms! This is the guy that Floridians might send to the U.S. Senate for six years???

https://www.tampabay.com/news/enviro...that_170059040

Florida also permits the dumping of sewage sludge on farmland, according to the above article. The article also says about 40 percent of Florida's 900 new residents each day will rely on septic tanks.

Consider also that a properly functioning conventional septic tank reduces nitrogen pollution by only 30-40 percent. Even new, advanced septic tank systems reduce nitrogen pollution by only 65-80 percent.

https://www.floridatoday.com/story/o...nse/628310002/

https://www.aero-stream.com/septic-system-cost.html

A logical conclusion looking at past Florida voting patterns and issues, and even reading posts in this thread and other Florida forum threads, is that Floridians aren't willing to make the investment needed to preserve their environment, even when the issue is palpable and immediate.

I know of a high school biology teacher who lived in a developed, suburban-like area of Ohio that relied on both septic tanks and well water. When he documented that sewage was polluting the well water, only then were residents willing to replace their aging septic tanks with sewers and a water treatment facility. How many Floridians with septic tanks actually rely on well water? Does anybody test well water quality?

It's no wonder that there is insufficient worry in Florida over the accelerating, but now obvious, onslaught of man-made climate change. Even red tide and the destruction of Florida's coral reefs and the devastation of fisheries and marine life may be on no consequence, let alone the surety of the state's ongoing inundation in the absence of a massive cutback in fossil fuel consumption. Many of Florida's residents apparently have a "greeder" mentality with little to no regard to future generations of Floridians, or whether large chunks of Florida, especially low-lying coastal areas, may no longer be habitable within 80 years, and a diminished quality of life and a higher cost of adapting to rising sea levels, as currently in Miami Beach, will become prevalent in just the few decades ahead.

The current state-wide elections will indicate how many voters are invested in the state's environmental quality, or alternatively possess a "if it gets bad enough, we'll just move" mindset. I wonder if the latter voters even really grasp what is meant by "bad enough." Consider the anti-environment posters in this thread glorify in their attitudes, even though they surely understand what is meant by "bad enough." Toxic algal blooms and the prospect of ongoing inundation is of no more concern to these posters than it is to Rick Scott.

It would be fascinating to explore the difference in voter attitudes toward the environment in Florida and California, and the cause of such differences. Such an understanding may be crucial to grasping whether then entire nation ever will have the will to aggressively act to mitigate the environmental holocaust that will result if fossil fuel consumption isn't drastically reduced. Perhaps, given the prevarications and obfuscations foisted upon Floridians by man-made climate change deniers such as Trump and Scott, many Floridians actually perhaps don't understand what's at stake, but I increasingly doubt this, probably due to the many posts by seemingly intelligent anti-environment posters in this and other Florida forum threads.