City of Marco Island Continues to Gaslight its Citizens on Water Quality

Here are a few things that were not reported in the recent coverage of the Marco Island Water Quality Town Hall Meeting:

1. Because Marco was declared impaired for Nitrogen in our waterways, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) forced the City to come up with a Plan, called 4(e), to improve water quality. The City's Plan did not include any reduction in nutrients but rather came up with expensive unproven distraction projects. Almost all of the activities listed in the 4e Plan are already required of the City under the 2015 MS4 Stormwater Plan.

2. The City would not acknowledge it is violating its own Fertilizer and Stormwater Ordinances by selling2,000,000 gallons of reuse water each day.

3. Under “Sources of Nutrients” they omitted reuse water and would not acknowledge that reuse water because of its high concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus is actually fertilizer.

4. Chief Frazzano said Code Enforcement was enforcing the Fertilizer Ordinance. When asked if they had ever tested the fertilizer the landscapers spread over the Island, she acknowledged it had never been tested.

5. None of the “Next Steps” on the City’s presentation address reducing pollutants like nitrogen and phosphorus.

6. When asked why, after all they claim they are doing, the condition of the canals continues to deteriorate, the City had no explanation. In my opinion, the City of Marco is continuing to gaslight its citizens about meaningfully addressing water quality and the coverage of the meeting omitted several important facts.