VENICE, Fla. — If you've been to Venice beach, you might have spotted a stormwater outfall. The city has more than a dozen of them, and there's concern about what might be coming out and flowing into the gulf.
That's why the city is studying what's in the water.
City leaders spent $20,000 to test it and found there were elevated levels of bacteria -- the kind you might expect from dogs, birds and other animals. They also found elevated levels of nitrogen from yard runoff.
The city is spending an additional $18,000 dollars to pre-treat the water at these outfalls before it is sent out to the Gulf where it could mix in with other naturally-occurring bacteria.
Venice Engineer Kathleen Weeden says while there is no magic answer to red tide, every little bit helps.
“Pick up after their dogs, not put fertilizer in excess, all those other things are going to make the biggest impact on improving water quality and reducing the chance for a red tide bloom," Weeden said.
The city is making a couple of other improvements. Netting is going in on more outfall pipes to collect debris, and workers are installing water goats at Hatchett Creek.
Previous: Venice discusses how to fight red tide
What other people are reading right now:
- Report: NASA chases asteroid so valuable it could make everybody on Earth billionaires
- 12-year-old contracts flesh-eating bacteria on Florida beach
- Rays offer $2 tickets for series against Orioles
- Body pulled from canal in Polk County; alligator captured nearby
- Dog impounded to animal shelter while owner deployed in Afghanistan
►Make it easy to keep up-to-date with more stories like this. Download the 10News app now.
Have a news tip? Email desk@wtsp.com, or visit our Facebook page or Twitter feed.