The Volusia County Water Summit – Stetson Today

The Volusia County Water Summit – Stetson Today:

The water summit discussed here, turned out to be a rather big event. Really good information & analysis. The right people thinking about the right issues.

It seems that everyone agreed to do something about improving water management and water quality in the county. Although this is a non-binding agreement among the players, it is a really big step forward.

Once everyone realizes those few areas where most of the efforts should be focused, it really helps get a concerted effort from all of the players, private, public and individuals.

When we have these wicked algae blooms, that demonstrates a massive overshoot of what our waterways can handle. Such blooms cause problems all the way out to the reefs, accelerating the reef kill-off that has already been accelerating from record warm temperatures and increase acidification.

The quality of life as we know it, is being eroded by the quality of our water and waterways.

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Marine scientist champions Blue Carbon

Marine scientist champions Blue Carbon: "Seagrass meadows act as a massive carbon sink, capable of storing as much carbon as forests. There’s only one problem: due to poor watershed management and declining water quality near shorelines, seagrasses are disappearing at alarming rates." [Italics added.]

Great! We can get sea grass to function as a massive sink for CO2. There's lots of ocean with lots of room for seagrass.

The only one, small, tiny problem: we're killing off the seagrass.

Ooops. That's a little inconvenient, don't you know.

But, that said, this is good to know. Maybe water quality and water management will escalate in importance to help save the reefs and the grasses.

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