[Coral-List] Sewage Continues to Flow Unchecked
Todd Barber
reefball at reefball.com
Fri May 26 09:55:30 EDT 2006
Dear Palm Beach County Reef Rescue,
First of all, thank you for your continued posts to the Coral-List. The
Reef Ball Foundation has reviewed your website and we find the response from
the sewer authority is reprehensible. As most of us on the Coral-List well
know, nutrient stresses are the main cause of coral reef decline in the
south Florida reef track. Not only does sewer outfalls create cyanobacteria
blooms, it also tips the balance in favor of coral boring sponges,
contributes to coral diseases, and changes entire ecosystems. We have
witnessed, firsthand, the changes to the Florida Keys reef systems since
1980 and know this to be a fact.
Numerous studies also have proven this as fact. Just ask this list and you
will probably be sent a plethora of pdf files documenting nutrient damages
to reefs!
Florida, itself, will face a population boom starting in two years as the
"baby boomer" reach retirement age. This means that all sewage treatment in
the South Florida area needs to be upgraded to the highest available
standards if our nation expects to retain our only coral reefs available to
our residents from the mainland.
Your work in helping to document the local problem has important relevance
to all of our nation. Please continue your work and, if necessary, extend
your work to include legal action. Actually, even the FDEP's request for
just more monitoring really does not go far enough. Monitoring when the
facts are already well know and without action is just an excuse to delay
further the inevitable conclusion that something needs to be done at the
treatment level.
For the Palm Beach County Reef Rescue to continue monitoring is important to
alert everyone to the issue....but for the sewer authority to do its own
monitoring is simply the fox guarding the hen house.
If you want to know what your reef will look-like with continued nutrient
loading simply go to
http://www.reefball.org/album/belize/placenciapeninsula/eiareview/coralmonitoring/index.html
and look at an area of would be pristine coral reef that has been nutrient
overloaded from banana plantations and shrimp farming. The nutrient levels
there are comparable to what South Florida will be facing in the next decade
without more stringent sewer treatment requirements.
Keep up the good work.
Thanks,
Todd R. Barber
Chairman, Reef Ball Foundation
3305 Edwards Court,
Greenville, NC 27858
941-720-7549 Cell
252-353-9094 Direct
Skype Toddbarber
MSN messenger reefball at hotmail.com
reefball at reefball.com (email address)
----- Original Message -----
From: <Etichscuba at aol.com>
To: <coral-list-request at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>;
<coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
Cc: <Jules.Craynock at noaa.gov>; <John.Proni at noaa.gov>; <Jim.Hendee at noaa.gov>
Sent: Friday, May 26, 2006 5:56 AM
Subject: [Coral-List] Sewage Continues to Flow Unchecked
>
> Here are links to newspaper articles published this week written in
> response
> to the latest FDEP rejection of the permit renewal application for the
> Delray/Boynton sewer plant. The sewer plant's permit to discharge
> millions of
> gallons a day of partially treated sewage from it's Atlantic Avenue ocean
> outfall
> pipe expired December 2005. This is the 5th time the FDEP has rejected
> the
> permit as incomplete in the last year. The reason it is incomplete is
> the
> plant's failure to address the most basic premise of the federal "Clean
> Water
> Act" - they must show they are not degrading the receiving environment,
> which
> in this case is an endangered coral reef.
>
>
> Sun-Sentinel (Thurs., May 25, 2006)
> Delray, Boynton told to increase monitoring of wastewater dumped into
> ocean
>
> _http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-pwastewater25may25,0,738
> 5264.story?coll=sfla-news-palm_
> (http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-pwastewater25may25,0,7385264.story?coll=sfla-news-palm)
>
> Palm Beach Post (Fri. May 26, 2006)
>
> Divers fret as algae threaten coral reef
>
> _http://www.palmbeachpost.com/pbcsouth/content/local_news/epaper/2006/05/26/s1
> c_reef_0526.html_
> (http://www.palmbeachpost.com/pbcsouth/content/local_news/epaper/2006/05/26/s1c_reef_0526.html)
>
>
> Palm Beach County Reef Rescue
> PO Box 207
> Boynton Beach, FL 33425
> (561) 699-8559
> _www.reef-rescue.org_ (http://www.reef-rescue.org/)
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Coral-List mailing list
> Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
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