The Importance Of Water Quality In Florida

Our beautiful state of Florida is one the richest states when it comes to the diversity of ecosystems. Especially when it comes to our aquatic life such as freshwater and saltwater ecosystems. The state of Florida is one of the states that its water supply is gathered from many different rivers, streams, and springs throughout the whole entire state. All of the aquatic ecosystems are connected in some sort of way. No matter the running water below the surface, the ground water, and or the water on the surface all help our drinkable water supplies, every single industry present in our state, help keep wildlife habitats thriving, improve our agricultural success within our communities. The water quality in Pensacola in 2015 was rated the worst

I have seen instances where some of my colleagues have become sick from drinking tap water around the city. No matter where it is such as at their schools such as Pensacola State College or the University of West Florida, at their homes, or in public spots such as restaurants people have noticed that the water is extremely unsanitary. A quote from the DailyFinance article portrays this exactly “Of the 101 chemicals tested for over five years, 45 were discovered. Of them, 21 were discovered in unhealthy amounts. The worst of these were radium-228 and -228, trichloroethylene, tetrachloroethylene, alpha particles, benzine and lead. Pensacola 's water was also found to contain cyanide and chloroform” (DailyFinance 2011). When I read this article and saw this quote I searched of the chemicals and how they would impact us if we consumed them and this was a found. Drinking water with

An agency like the FDEP must be broken down into smaller subdivision working areas that each has different jobs. The first one is the Water Policy and Ecosystems and that subdivision’s main jobs are to oversee Florida’s five regional water management districts, regulate the plan to restore the many unique South Florida ecosystems, and manage Florida’s most valuable submerged lands and coastal uplands (FDEP 2015). Second is Water Quality Assessment and Restoration division and their job is to establish water quality standard, monitor the water quality statewide, figure out which bodies of water do not meet the quota, and work with the locals to bring the bodies of water back to a healthy state (FDEP 2015). Third is the Permitting, Compliance and Enforcement subdivision and its duties are to regulate coastal construction, mining and minerals extraction, and manage wastewater and storm water facilities (FDEP 2015). Lastly, is the Financial Assistance subdivision and all this division does is provide money each year in the form of loans and grants to local governments for the construction of water infrastructure and implement them in the best way possible (FDEP 2015). All 4 of these subdivisions are focused on improving the standard of water in our state and they must begin to fulfill their duties and improve the