Big Ag's big pollution is a big problem for Florida

The question was simple, the answer complicated. But it needn’t have been.

In late January Adam Blalock, Deputy Secretary for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, gave a presentation on water quality to the new House Water Quality, Supply and Treatment Subcommittee, talking about the state’s efforts to clean up water pollution.

When it came time for Q-and-A, Rep. Katherine Waldron (D-Wellington) asked the obvious question: “What would you consider the biggest source of pollution in our state right now?”

Blalock hemmed and hawed, and hearing his answer, you might come away with the impression that there’s no single source that’s worse or more prevalent than the others.

But any honest assessment of the state’s BMAP data, particularly for the plans pertaining to the Lake Okeechobee, St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee basins, can only come to one conclusion:

In many basins, the biggest source of pollution is agriculture — in many cases, by a mile.

VoteWater Deep Dives take a deeper look at individual issues plaguing Florida waterways.

Read our latest blog to learn the truth behind the largest contributors of nitrogen and phosphorus loads in the entire watershed and how rosy modeling projections used by the state are painting a vastly different picture that provide cover to Florida's biggest polluter.

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