News

As your Lake Worth Waterkeeper, I advocate for the Lake Worth Lagoon and its watershed, a coastal estuary running along the eastern edge of Palm Beach County in South Florida. The watershed, which is considered the northern...

Regional entity Waterkeepers Florida came together early February for an in-person board meeting to set goals for the 2019 Florida legislative session. They gathered at the 25th Annual Public Interest Environmental Conference at the University of Florida Levin College of Law in...

Conservation groups sued three federal agencies today for failing to address harm to Florida’s endangered species from Lake Okeechobee releases containing toxic algae.Today’s lawsuit, filed in the Southern District of Florida, challenges the U.S. Army Corps of...

In South Florida, we have fundamentally reshaped nature. Now our challenge is righting the wrongs of the past. As the Lake Worth Waterkeeper, I know this all too well. Lake Worth Lagoon is now an estuary, the tidal mouth of a river, where the ocean meets the...

Three times last week, Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman helped gather locals and organizations across Georgia, north Florida, and beyond to voice concerns about a proposed strip mine alongside the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge in Southern Georgia, home...

Suncoast Waterkeeper, Our Children’s Earth Foundation, and Ecological Rights Foundation are celebrating our third legal victory in the ongoing “Sick of Sewage” campaign focused on cleaning up Gulf Coast waters. After a series of horrific sewage spills in 2016...

Waterkeepers Florida is pleased to announce the launch of the Waterkeepers Florida website and to present its first annual report. Waterkeepers Florida is a regional entity licensed by the international Waterkeeper Alliance, composed of all 13 Waterkeeper organizations working in the state of Florida. While Waterkeepers have been working to protect Florida’s waters individually...

Florida Springs Council, Florida Waterkeepers, and Sierra Club today responded to remarks by Florida’s Chief Science Officer, Thomas K. Frazer, Ph.D., regarding Senator Mayfield’s Senate Bill 712 (SB 712).The three organizations sent a twelve-page letter to Dr. Frazer, copied to Senator Mayfield...

TALLAHASSEE – A sweeping water quality measure sought by Gov. Ron DeSantis was approved Friday by the Florida Senate, with supporters calling it a major step toward easing...

Waterkeepers Florida submitted two letters in opposition of FDEP's attempts to assume Clean Water Act Dredge & Fill (Section 404) permitting authority from the federal government. The first letter expresses concerns related to the rulemaking and the second letter expresses concerns related to the public comment period proceeding during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Recently, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) announced its intent to assume the federal authority of Clean Water Act permits...

Waterkeepers Florida submitted a request to FDEP requesting suspension of rulemaking in the Clean Water Act Section 404 assumption effort. Waterkeepers Florida is deeply committed to ensuring public involvement in this rulemaking process. In fact, public involvement is the hallmark of our collective mission. We do not feel that these rulemaking proceedings have been adequately inclusive for all members of the public during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Waterkeepers Florida celebrated the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day with a virtual "Toast to Clean Water." Waterkeepers from across the state tuned in to give their salute to...

Miami Waterkeeper was among the supporters of Florida’s waters participating in an interactive Earth Day Salute Wednesday broadcast on Zoom and Facebook Live...

Since most of Florida’s agencies began holding virtual meetings in mid-March, there have been questions in the minds of those who believe public participation is a keystone of our democracy: Is a webinar an adequate substitute for a face-to-face meeting that offers time for public input? And are webinars going to become the new normal? Waterkeepers Florida's Andy Mele submitted an Op-Ed to the Sarasota Herald Tribune highlighting concerns over lack of public access to and involvement with major environmental decisions in the State of Florida during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Florida Springs Council, Sierra Club Florida and Waterkeepers Florida sent a letter to Florida’s Chief Science Officer Thomas Frazer related to the Clean Waterways Act (SB 712). Among other weaknesses in the Act, they wrote, it does not go far enough in adopting recommendations from the state’s Blue-Green Algae Task Force, including “a septic system inspection and monitoring program” to identify and get rid of malfunctioning systems to “reduce nutrient pollution…and preserve human health.”

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law Tuesday measures that include bigger fines for dumping pollutants into waterways and new rules for septic tanks and agricultural runoff, though environmentalists said...To continue reading, subscribe to The Tampa Bay Times...

Gov. Ron DeSantis just signed into law SB 712, the so-called “Clean Waterways Act,” which falls far short of that mark. This bill has been praised by its supporters as one of the most environmentally progressive pieces of legislation in over a decade. Yet after the cuts and rollbacks to our environmental regulations by the last state administration, that isn’t saying much. The bill pays...

Gov. Ron DeSantis just signed into law SB 712 — the self-proclaimed “Clean Waterways Act” — an ambitious misnomer for a bill that claims to be the solution to our mounting water quality issues, but falls far short of that mark...

Gov. Ron DeSantis just signed into law SB 712 — the self-proclaimed “Clean Waterways Act” — an ambitious misnomer for a bill that claims to be the solution to our mounting water quality issues, but falls far short of that mark.This bill has been praised by its supporters as one of the most environmentally progressive pieces of legislation in over a decade. But looking back at...