VoteWater's Gil Smart speaks with South Florida Water Management District Governing Board Member Cheryl Meads during an outing on the St. Lucie River.

Meet VoteWater’s Gil Smart: ‘I didn’t come to paradise to watch it be destroyed’

VoteWater Executive Director Gil Smart always wanted to live at the beach. But when the Pennsylvania native moved his family to Martin County during the algae-clogged “Lost Summer” of 2016, he was stunned by the devastation — and the reason behind it.

“It was an environmental crisis, sure,” said Smart, who spent 31 years as a journalist before taking the helm at VoteWater. “But it was also a political crisis,” he said, the result of weak regulations, lax enforcement and policy-makers unwilling to stand up to special interests.

As a journalist, Smart had covered Bullsugar.org and was drawn to the group’s bare-knuckled advocacy. It’s a legacy he seeks to continue, while using his background as an investigative reporter to dig into “Dirty Money” and other complex clean-water topics.

Smart, 56, also serves as Policy Director for Friends of the Everglades, as a member of the board of the Stuart-based Rivers Coalition, and on the advisory board for the Florida Right to Clean Water initiative. In his spare time the married father of three plays guitar and sings in a Stuart-area band called Vinyl Redux, follows political commentary and roots for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

“I didn’t come to paradise to watch it be destroyed,” said Smart. “Too many Florida politicians think everything is ‘fine’ and we can continue with business as usual. But we know that's the path to another algae crisis — and worse.

"So if you've been following our work for a while, thanks for sticking with us." said Smart. "And if you're new here — welcome to the clean-water movement."

'Algae season' heats up on Lake O

You might call it “summer,” but July might be better known as “algae season.”

As we documented in a “Deep Dive” last year, massive algae blooms have become an annual event on Lake Okeechobee - and take a look at this image from July 3, when algae on the lake covered an estimated 420 square miles:

The bloom has since increased to 460 square miles, and all indications are that it will continue to grow as it feeds on the abundance of nutrients in the lake. The threat, as always, is that heavy rains or a tropical system or two could dump enough water into and around the lake, resulting in discharges to the northern estuaries — triggering another crisis.

We’ll be lucky if the blooms burn themselves out before that happens, by consuming all the readily available nutrients. But, must we watch images of the lake light up like a Christmas tree every single year? As long as legacy nutrients continue to accumulate and the nutrient loads coming into the lake continue to exceed the “pollution diet” in the state’s Lake O Basin Management Action Plan (BMAP), the answer is “yes.”

That’s why we need to vote water — and elect policy makers who treat algae season as the crisis it is.

These are the things worth fighting for

At VoteWater we talk a lot about what we’re fighting against. The image above helps illustrate just what we’re fighting for.

Clean, abundant waters. Marine life, human health, economic vitality. Resilient, sustainable and equitable water management.

We fight so that your grandchildren, and ours, can catch fish, paddleboard, sail and surf as you have.

Join our crusade, and help make a difference for our beautiful, irreplaceable waterways, and all who rely on them.

P.S.: Have you completed and signed this year's petition for the proposed Florida Right to Clean Water Constitutional Amendment yet? Why the heck not? Stop by the VoteWater office at 3727 SE Ocean Blvd., Suite 200A in Stuart to pick up a petition — or head over to the Right to Clean Water website to print one at home.