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Fall 2003 - V.18 N.3 Table of Content	EPA Allows Florida to Pollute Drinking Water Supplies from Risk News Report
News Around the Lagoon Cape Canaveral Hospital Moves One Step Closer to Filling Banana River 30% of Lagoon Dolphin Suffer Skin Disease 12 Water Projects Funded EPA Allows Florida to Pollute Drinking Water 800 Dolphins and Whales Dying in Nets Nitrogen Associated with Sewage Found in Ocean Seaweed Advisory wants to take north Florida's Water to Supply south Florida Growth Muck Removal Delayed to Late 2004 Army Corp. Studies Lagoon Problems Lake Okeechobee Water Releases Merger Expected to Reduce Growth Management Development impact Fees Results in Job Growth Runoff Cause Cattails Spread in Everglades Space Coast Birding & Wildlife Festivals U.S Fish and Wildlife considers New Manatees Zones in Florida Environmentalists Sue to Restrict Weed Killer Wastewater Carried Towards in the Keys Florida Keys at Risk Bioluminescent Algae in the Ocean Sea Urchins Infesting the Reefs On the Lagoon with Captain Rodney Smith	Before resigning, EPA Administrator Christine Whitman signed an exemption for Florida from provisions of the Safe Drinking Water Act. It legally allows Florida to pollute drinking water aquifers with treated waste through municipal underground injection wells. More than 100 underground injection wells were built to satisfy the growth in South Florida. The injected underground waste was supported to be contained by a geological barrier and not seep into the drinking water aquifers. Recent studies show the waste does migrate into drinking water aquifers. n the Keys, they have also shown the waste causes bacteria and viruses to infect beaches. Algae blooms, fish killed and dying sea grass beds are associated with nutrients from sewage waste. Government officials admit those problems are the result of the sewage waste migration into coastal waters but only Pinellas County has decided to plug the underground injection wells, replacing them with a reuse wastewater program. Legislation restricting underground injection wells permitting has failed. In other states, this underground injection wells waste disposal program is banned because it violates public health and environmental health. Next Article: 800 Dolphins and Whales Dying Daily in Nets from BBC News and other sources

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© 2003 Marine Resources Council of East Florida