{"id":358599,"date":"2026-07-31T09:13:25","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T09:13:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/358599\/"},"modified":"2026-07-31T09:13:25","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T09:13:25","slug":"a-majority-of-florida-waterways-are-polluted-but-environmental-enforcement-is-lacking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/358599\/","title":{"rendered":"A majority of Florida waterways are polluted. But environmental enforcement is lacking"},"content":{"rendered":"

A majority of Florida waterways are failing water quality standards, even as the state\u2019s pollution enforcement remains near historic lows, according to a new report.<\/p>\n

The report<\/a> was published by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, or PEER, and Waterkeepers Florida, a coalition that is part of the international Waterkeeper Alliance. It is based on 37 years of environmental enforcement data, plus data from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection\u2019s latest statewide, comprehensive water quality analysis<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Data takeaways<\/p>\n

Of more than 4,200 water bodies assessed by FDEP, just over 52% are not meeting water quality standards, according to the state\u2019s comprehensive analysis released earlier this year. For another 15% of assessed water bodies, there isn\u2019t enough data to determine whether or not standards are being met.<\/p>\n

In Central Florida, some water bodies failing to meet water quality standards include Lake Jesup (impaired by nutrients), portions of Lake Apopka (impaired by nutrients, plus pesticides found in fish tissue) and parts of the Econlockhatchee River (impaired by e-coli and nutrients), according to FDEP.<\/p>\n

Statewide, most water body impairments are driven by high concentrations of nutrients and fecal bacteria, as well as low levels of dissolved oxygen, according to FDEP.<\/p>\n

\"Fifty-two<\/p>\n

Infographic<\/p>\n

\/<\/p>\n

PEER and Waterkeepers Florida July 2026 report<\/p>\n

Fifty-two percent of Florida waterways are not meeting water quality standards, and data is lacking for another 15%, according to FDEP.<\/p>\n

PEER\u2019s analysis of state enforcement data reveals that \u201ca steady decline\u201d in enforcement actions began once former Governor Rick Scott took office in 2011.<\/p>\n

The report states that \u201cthe Scott administration favored development interests at the expense of environmental protections.\u201d<\/p>\n

Between 1988 and 1995, FDEP took action to enforce protective environmental laws in an average 1,048 cases per year. That number plummeted to 431 cases a year, on average, between 2011 and 2018, Scott\u2019s last full year in office.<\/p>\n

When Governor Ron DeSantis took over in 2019, he was more publicly supportive of protective environmental programs than Scott had been, according to the PEER report. In DeSantis\u2019 first year in office, the number of environmental enforcement actions temporarily rose, from 371 actions taken in 2018 to 742 in 2020.<\/p>\n

After 2020, though, FDEP enforcement actions declined again. They\u2019ve since ticked back up slightly, rising from 579 actions taken in 2023 to 755 in 2025.<\/p>\n

Still, \u201cenforcement actions initiated under Governor DeSantis are still less than half of what they were in 2010,\u201d according to the report.<\/p>\n

\"Environmental<\/p>\n

Graph<\/p>\n

\/<\/p>\n

PEER and Waterkeepers Florida July 2026 report<\/p>\n

Environmental enforcement actions in Florida plummeted far below historical averages in 2011, when former Governor Rick Scott took office. Although those actions have ticked up slightly in recent years, they’re still less than half of what they were in 2010. <\/p>\n

Florida\u2019s pollution protections \u2018don\u2019t go far enough\u2019<\/p>\n

Lisa Rinaman is the riverkeeper, or chief advocate, at St. Johns Riverkeeper<\/a>, one of 15 member groups making up Waterkeepers Florida. Rinaman said the findings in the report co-published with PEER are a \u201csignificant concern.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s alarming for a state like Florida, where everything depends on clean water, from an economic perspective,\u201d Rinaman said. \u201cOur tourism, our growth; just our quality of life, agriculture.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although state rules and protections enacted to reduce nutrient pollution in water bodies like the St. Johns River have worked \u201cto some degree,\u201d Rinaman said, they don\u2019t go far enough \u2014 especially because enforcement is lacking.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis [report] just demonstrates that, those protections that have been in place, they’re too lax. They don’t go far enough,\u201d Rinaman said. \u201cAnd then, if you’re not enforcing it to ensure that what the model is telling you is what’s happening in reality \u2026. then it’s really not as good as the paper it’s written on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking forward<\/p>\n

The report by PEER and Waterkeepers Florida finds \u201ca growing number of Florida\u2019s water bodies, including estuaries and lakes, fail to meet water quality standards.\u201d However, \u201cthe quality of coastal waters and streams has improved somewhat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another piece of good news, Rinaman said, is a provision in Florida\u2019s farm bill, approved by lawmakers earlier this year, that will outlaw the land application of Class B biosolids by 2028. Those Class B biosolids are made up of sewage sludge that\u2019s been treated to reduce (not eliminate) pathogens and toxic chemicals.<\/p>\n

However, DeSantis vetoed another bill<\/a> that would have created protective regulations for Class AA biosolids, which is sewage sludge that\u2019s been treated to a higher level than Class B biosolids.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat’s just going to continue to add to our nutrient pollution problems that we’re seeing throughout the state of Florida,\u201d Rinaman said.<\/p>\n

FDEP was asked to comment on the report\u2019s findings, but did not provide a response before publication.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A majority of Florida waterways are failing water quality standards, even as the state\u2019s pollution enforcement remains near…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":358600,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-358599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=358599"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358599\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/358600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=358599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=358599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=358599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}