A new water quality report card for Biscayne Bay again delivers sobering news: pollution in the bay continues to worsen.
While the amount and location of the increase is not alarming, it does signal an ongoing trend for a bay once famed for gin-clear waters and now in danger of a tipping point. In recent years, millions have been poured into undoing the damage, but the clock is ticking and, with changing conditions like marine heat waves, intensifying hurricanes and increased development along its urban shores, time may be running out, researchers say.
According to results from the most recent report card, an enclosed section in the northern end of the bay, where water gets less circulation and is fed by the polluted Little River, is growing worse.
“[The] Northern Bay is still very much a problem,” Pamela Sweeney, Chief of the Division of Environmental Resources Management, said. “There's a problem with nutrients, which are phosphorus and nitrogen. Then across Biscayne Bay we have issues with chlorophyll, which is a product of having too many nutrients in the water.”
The county’s stoplight scorecard changed from yellow last year to red in the report. Although that reflects a change, Sweeney said, “it doesn't necessarily reflect a major difference.”
For a day to day look at pollution in the bay, Miami Waterkeeper has been keeping a close watch with regular sampling.
“ When there's waters that could be polluted with sewage, for example, there's so many different microorganisms that can cause illness that can make people sick,” said Adriana González Fernández, Waterkeeper’s Science and Research Director.
Fecal bacteria, from human and animal waste is one of the main forms of contamination Waterkeeper tests for, González Fernández said. Fecal bacteria can signify many things, such as pollution from septic tanks or sewers or from animal waste that gets washed into the water.
The “snapshots” show how the bay looks at a specific moment in time, González Fernández said. Differences like time of day, slight changes in weather and location in the water can influence conditions, so Waterkeeper tracks that data as well. Miami Waterkeeper has 27 sites that it monitors. The County monitors more than 87. The Florida Department of Health monitors 4.
Why conditions worsened slightly is still being determined, said Piero Gardinali, associate director of the Institute of Water at Florida International University.
“ I don't wanna say it's nobody's fault, but I mean, it's just a consequence of the weather, not necessarily an increase in what we put in,” he said.
READ MORE: Biscayne Bay Is In Danger Of A 'Regime Shift,' NOAA Study Finds
Gardinali, who lives near the bay and swims in it almost weekly, said keeping waters clean is personal.
“ I'm always making sure that, you know, I can swim in the bay next week,” he said.
“We haven't reduced what we put in. So since we're really close to the place where we can create a problem, some minor changes will drive some of these degradations,” Gardinali said.
Although the most recent findings in the county’s Biscayne Bay Water report card didn’t show improvements, Gardinali said efforts are heading in the right direction and called planning efforts now ongoing a “preamble” to making the bay healthy again
“ We are seeing a lot more resources dedicated to try to keep Biscayne Bay the way it should be,” he said, “and not cause more problems.”
