Eugene Wordehoff, Bob Roth | Collier Citizens Council
The “Harper Report” presented in 2021 was in response to the Marco Island impairment for excess nitrogen in the canals as declared in 2019 by FDEP. Dredging of the Marco canals was the first recommendation of this report with a cost estimate of $189,820,000. At the Marco Waterways Advisory Committee (WAC) meeting where Dr. Harper presented his report, he said (twice) “I do not recommend dredging.” Apparently, this recommendation was included only to illustrate the extremely high cost of dredging.
The dredging recommendation then states: “Sediment removal is prohibitively expensive; The most feasible option is to reduce the rate of nutrient release by improving water quality by managing other sources to maintain aerobic conditions in the waterways.” Dr. Harper said, “Take care of the reuse water first.” Dr. Harper recommended cleaning the nutrients out of the reuse water, not dredging.
Marco Island canals have not been impaired for excess nitrogen for three years now. What happened? The sewage treatment plant dropped the nitrogen levels in the sewage reuse water. The level of nitrogen in the canals then dropped back to historically low levels. The sewage plant was the cause of the nitrogen impairment and then resolved this same impairment.
In 2024 the Marco canals began entering phosphorus impairment. There is only one source of phosphorus on Marco Island – sewage reuse water. The sewage plant is again the cause of the Marco canal impairment. The cost of “polishing” the sewage reuse water to strip out the offending phosphorus has been estimated to be $3M to $5M. With inflation, the current cost of dredging might top $300M. Dredging, a “downstream” project, will cost 100x the cost of just stopping the pollution at the source, which is referred to as an “upstream” project.
Google search: “Why is dredging bad?” Answer: “Dredging can have many negative impacts on the environment, including water quality: Dredging can release pollutants like heavy metals, nutrients, and organic compounds into the water, which can harm aquatic life and human health.”
Our hearts may suggest dredging to help solve a water quality problem. Our heads suggest that we might be making the Marco water quality problem much worse.
Collier Citizens Council is a coalition of civic leaders whose purpose is to represent the interests of county residents by influencing local and state policies.
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