ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — At a brewery in St. Petersburg, over pints of beer, the talk is about water.
Non-profits Ocean Conservancy and Tampa Bay Waterkeeper and about a hundred of their friends came to hear from experts about the threats of storm-related pollution.
"We need these conversations to leave someplace like this,” Tampa Bay Waterkeeper executive director, Justin Tramble, told the crowd.
Last month, more than 65 million gallons of sewage spilled into waterways around the bay, adding even more nitrogen. Water quality advocates say the only real solution is new infrastructure that'll cost billions.
“Once you have too much nitrogen, once you have too much phosphorus in those waterways, that's when you start to see the harmful algal blooms,” Matanzas Riverkeeper Jen Lomberk said. “That's when you start to see the oxygen being diminished. That's when you start to see the fish kills.”
The state says cities and counties need more than a hundred billion dollars to fix aging and inadequate wastewater plants. It's a massive price tag these advocates say might not be reached with a possible political shift against new spending and regulation.
“Regardless of your political affiliation in Florida,” Ocean Conservancy Florida director J.P. Brooker said. “We believe that you should be working towards a healthy Floridian environment.”
“We can't bury our head in the sand,” Tramble added. “We've got to really take initiative and be at the forefront of the investments and the changes that are needed to protect what we've got here.”
They're hoping water can rise above partisanship.
“Water quality transcends politics,” he said. “Water quality is an integral part of how our local businesses make money. There is absolutely, without a doubt, energy behind advocacy for protecting what we've got here in our backyard.”