Joint Workshop Focuses on Marco’s Water Quality

Marco Island City Council met on Monday, May 23 in a joint workshop with the city’s Waterways Advisory Committee to discuss several items from the Environmental Research & Design Report provided to the city by Dr. Harvey Harper. The nutrient source evaluation report was originally presented to city council in September 2021.

Harper’s report identifies potential sources of pollution impacting the waterways in and around Marco Island. Early this year, City Manager Michael McNees identified seven separate areas in the report for further review by the Waterways Advisory Committee. McNees directed the committee to review those items and report their findings to council for further action.

Those items were identified as:

• Stormwater Management

• Seepage Management

• Reuse Irrigation

• Fertilizer Ordinance

• Public Education

• Creation of a Storm Water Utility

• Water Quality Monitoring

Waterways Committee members provided an overview of these seven areas. 

The Waterways Committee advised that the city needed to create an action plan, which could include additional swale restoration and changes to residential construction requirements to address onsite retention of the “first flush of storm events.” 

Bob Roth, a former committee member, spoke about the advantages of having improved control of residential stormwater runoff from new homes. This would enable better filtration of those waters. 

The committee recommended that the watering of properties on Collier Boulevard and on other municipal properties be reevaluated to ensure that over watering is not taking place, per Dr. Harper’s report. Further, efforts to educate property owners and commercial landscaping companies on over watering should be increased.