ACTION ALERT ACTION ALERT ACTION ALERT ACTION ALERT
Voice your Support NOW for Clean Water for
Florida Keys Coral Reefs.
Florida Keys Water Quality Improvement Act of 2000.
Background:
Reef Relief has been a strong advocate of improving sewage treatment in the Florida Keys for many years because water quality decline is the greatest threat to the health of North America's only living coral barrier reef. Nutrients from inadequately-treated sewage in the Florida Keys, combined with the agricultural runoff from Florida Bay and the Everglades, are the two largest sources of pollution. Together, they have produced a dramatic drop in water quality. Our gin-clear waters have turned green. Conditions at the reef have deteriorated, with new coral diseases and nuisance algal blooms consuming fragile centuries-old coralheads.
Nearly two years ago U.S. Representative Peter Deutsch introduced the Florida Keys Water Quality Improvement Act, as the 106th Congress began. This $213 million Keys' water quality bill was recently approved in the House of Representatives by an overwhelming 411-to-7 vote!
However, before this funding of Keys-wide waste water and stormwater collection and treatment becomes reality, the bill must pass the Senate. In November, voters will elect the 107th Congress. The new congress will not be obligated to act on this and the entire funding-approval process would have to begin again.
It is with the intention of protecting the biologically diverse marine ecosystem of the Florida Keys that we once again urge Senators Connie Mack and Bob Graham to take all steps necessary to seek funding for wastewater improvements throughout the Florida Keys.
Studies funded by the US EPA Water Quality Protection Program for the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, which was made possible through legislation sponsored by the Senators, has documented that existing illegal cesspits, shallow injection wells, and septic tanks in use throughout the Florida Keys leach into nearshore waters in a matter of hours. Studies have also documented the dramatic decline in the health of North America's only living coral barrier reef. The connection between nutrient loading from inadequately treated sewage and the decline in a coral reef that requires clean, clear, nutrient-free waters to thrive is inescapable!
We have sought such funding assistance for many years, but this year, we are closer than ever to achieving it! Efforts are underway in Key Largo to provide Advanced Wastewater Treatment (AWT). A two year expedited plan for AWT, phasing out of the ocean outfall, and replumbing of all city sewer lines is underway for Key West. An area of Marathon is being retrofitted with improved sewage facilities.
All of these efforts would be enhanced, as would proposals for other areas throughout the Florida Keys, with the matching support of the Federal government.
Let's get this funded before the end of the 106th Congress!
Action Needed Now:
1. Write a letter of support to the Florida Senators. Tell them you support their
efforts to improve water quality and urge them to take all steps necessary to seek
funding for wastewater improvements throughout the Florida Keys. Ask them to vote
to pass the Florida Keys Water Quality Improvement Act of 2000.
Contact:
2. Please help build support for the Senate passage of the Florida Keys Water Quality Improvement Act of 2000 by writing a letter to the editor of these local newspapers:
3. I'm too busy to get involved, but I support Reef Relief efforts to improve water quality for Florida's coral reefs., I want to contribute to the Clean Water Campaign: $____(Click Here!) To contribute online, simply follow this link to our volunteer page. Type "Clean Water Campaign" in the comment box, add the credit card info and the amount you wish to donate. Or simply mail your check to Reef Relief, P.O. Box 430, Key West, Florida 33041.
Stand up for clean water now and for our future. Write today. Thank you.
For more information, contact Reef Relief (305) 294-3100 or email
us.
