South Florida Sewage Case Study

Florida has 12,133 square miles of water and 53,297 square miles of land as stated by Florida's Fish and Wildlife Conservation. While Florida is recognized for are agriculture and our state's bodies of water, issues in these fields are present and will only continue to grow in the near future. Florida currently has a problem with our water management; though Florida is the Sunshine State, we have a lot of rain, and this rain often overflows into man-made sewer drains. Rain then runs off into our drains and oceans and then starts to leak into our groundwater, carrying pesticides and other dangerous substances into our drinking water. When a high level of pesticides enters the aquifer, the quality of our water diminishes.

There are many areas in Tampa that will be unfortunately underwater. As we saw with the heavy rains in late 2015, the most vital areas such as Westshore Ave, South Tampa, Bayshore Ave, and even Downtown had major flooding causing delays in traffic and safety anxieties. While the flooding only lasted a few days, the event brought attention to the Tampa’s faulty infrastructure and drainage systems. An alarming thought is how Tampa will be able to protect itself from a storm or the rising sea levels if the drainage systems are inadequate. The Tampa Bay area is due for a natural disaster any day now; the coastal area is highly vulnerable. According to Sara Kerr, “One place that we have to look carefully at is Tampa where there is a huge concentration at risk from a storm surge, but there hasn’t been an event for 150 years and so the city is fairly complacent about its risk” (2015). A possible catastrophe can pose as an environmental challenge in Tampa Bay as the highly populous areas will not be able to withstand rising sea levels that will occur.

cruising through those small towns with souvenirs shops to each side, seafood restaurants mixed in and public access trails to the beaches spotted along the route you will notice that the buildings directly on the beach are on stilts.

Possible solution example: Using a rain garden can dramatically impact the environment. During heavy downpours, our outdated sewer system cannot handle the runoff due to impermeable surfaces in the community. Dave Morris, who is a liaison to the mayor states, “Every homeowner should consider a rain garden to decrease the amount of pollutants running into the watershed” (305). Rain gardens provide a temporary place to hold rainwater, allowing it to be absorbed over time and filtering out contaminants that would otherwise end up in waterways.

For more than 50 years since the Central and Southern Florida Project, major ventures have been ongoing which have focused on the provision of fresh water for human-development projects and flood protection. In order to provide water for residential, commercial, and agricultural uses, the natural flow of hundreds of small rivers and streams contained within the Everglades were altered. Revisions included redirecting river flows from winding to straight, draining wetland areas to provide agricultural land, and channelizing rivers by creating high concrete banks to provide flood control. Consequently, the Everglades and its dependent natural community have been highly impacted in the most adverse way.

The issue that has to do with this bill is the environment. This bill from 2015 says that water and air pollution is harmful to the Florida atmosphere. The bill says the “public policy of this to conserve waters,” and that “air pollution control programs” are now considered necessities in Florida.

The Everglades Restoration Plan is the policy to increase the flow of clean water to the Everglades, in an effort to protect the environment, provide for recreational activities, and supply South Florida with a clean supply of potable water. At a cost of more than $10.5 billion and with a 35+ year time-line, this is the largest hydrologic restoration project ever undertaken in the United States. The Federal Government approved Florida’s landmark water quality project that, once constructed, all parties agree will provide the clean water the Everglades need (Scott, 2013). The Everglades restoration has been hampered by decades of futile bickering over how to decide the most rational approach to restoring the flow of water to the Everglades.

People living in Miami are in the face of danger, and for the most part they are not aware of it. Due to high population, Miami is the fourth largest city to become affected by sea level rise. (Ankum et al.) In the next 32-50 years, sea level is expected to rise by as much as two feet. (Ankum et al.) This two-foot rise will have detrimental effects on the urban settings of Miami. The amount of soil erosion that is undergoing at our beaches will greatly increase if a two-foot rise occurs. At a four-foot rise, road connectivity would begin to become affected. At a six-foot rise, Southern Florida would no longer be habitable as it would, for the most part, be underwater. Not much is being invested in mitigation efforts, most of what is being done are short term solutions. Instead of coming up with ideas to prevent and try to slow down the effects of climate change on our environment, we are focusing on ideas such as building up a sea wall, relocating power plants, and redesigning structures.

Groundwater is the largest and most available usable source of drinking water in the state. There is a vast and mysterious system of caves and natural springs in North Central Florida. The cave system within the aquifer is one of the most amazing parts. The caves are remarkable in many ways. They are among the deepest and longest in the world, let alone the U.S. Another amazing aspect of the system is the purity of the water. The springs collectively produce billions of gallons of crystal clear water per day. The whole system stems from the Florida Aquifer that rests under the entire state. When most people think of Florida, they think of the weather and the beaches, but its the springs and the whole water

This problem has event caught the attention of the government and the senators of Florida. Since 1994, organizations, acts, and the awareness has developed. One of the first acts, passed in 1994, was called the Everglades Forever Act. It was created to decrease the phosphorous levels in the water of the Everglades after it was found mainly in farm areas. From then on, projects like the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, also known as the CERP, have began to appear. It states in the text passage “Water Quality Nearly Halts Everglades Restoration”, “But many were unhappy with the red tape and slow pace of the CERP.” AS a result, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers decided to make another way to help the Everglades flourish once more; the Central Everglades Planning Project. This project was also to improve the quality of the water, but also fill the canals and installing filters. America has spent lots of money trying to restore the Everglades; however, they hope to bring the Everglades back to its original, healthy

Recently, the heap of pollution caused a massive drainage in the Everglades’ water quality. Tramontana and Johnson (2003) reported that “much of Florida’s early development was based upon draining and removing excess water from wetlands… and it was thought if drained, the land could be put to better use” (Human Development section, para. 2). Pollution destroys the cleanliness of the wetland leading to a decrease in restoration. Millions amount of cash produced to repair water quality leads to the consequences of continuous flow of freshwater.

Millions of people living in Florida could be forced to move, it the coastal waters keep rising. While this news is not old, it is happening at an alarming rate and people are already seeing the damages of the rising waters. There are four counties in Florida that would be hit the hardest, Miami-Dade, Broward, Pinella, and Lee. It is believed that in those four counties alone, over 521,000 people will be affected, according to LiveScience.com,

Human Development is the reason why Florida has water-supply problems. In the nineteenth century, the Everglades submerged more than half of Florida’s 36 million acres in clean, fresh water (43). Our water supply problems commenced when the SFWMD and the Army Corps of Engineers began draining and paving over the everglades in the early twentieth century. With concrete covering the ground, the 150 billion gallons of rainfall received has since been unable to filter down into the ground and replenish the aquifer. Instead that rainfall becomes run-off. The run-off does not return into natural watersheds,

The outlying areas of Prince George are mostly rural with the only services being provided to them being electricity. As the City of Prince George expands, these rural areas are becoming more populated and people want a higher quality of living. In the region of a south east corner of the city limits are two roads called Midland Road, and Blackburn Road South. Location seen in Figure 1 on the next page. The soil conditions in this area are mostly clay and do not support the use of Septic Fields. Instead residents have to use Sewage Lagoons which can pose a problem in regards to spacing. These residents also have to get water through the use of wells.

A raw sewage spill inside your home or business can happen to anyone at anytime with catastrophic consequences. If it happened to you, you need to act fast. Many causes send sewage into a structure like floods, earthquakes, fires, and other misfortunes. Once the problem is found and repairs are made, you’re left with the muck and the smell. Raw sewage is dangerous, contaminating everything it touches and making the air hazardous to breathe.