16 Jun A water bond should be part of PBC’s future
By Karen Marcus
Recently, nearly 10% of Palm Beach County’s population got a ‘taste’ of how toxic cyanobacteria cylindrospermopsis in our drinking water impacts the region’s economy — not to mention our daily lives.
Potable water has been restored to the residents of Palm Beach, South Palm Beach and West Palm Beach after toxins caused by blue-green algae were found in the water supply, but the threats to the county’s water remain.
The good news is that people are paying attention. We have worked to improve and secure water systems for the county for more than 30 years. Today, people are more aware than ever that protecting the county’s water supply is a critical issue for ensuring our future.
We live here because we enjoy the lifestyle that clean water allows. If you can’t use tap water, swim at our beaches, or fish in our waters because of harmful blue-green algae, our lifestyle wilts. Our economic engine sputters.
The bad news is that Palm Beach County still lacks a comprehensive water-management strategy to carry us into the future. Several factors underscore the urgency: the county is growing, and our water needs with it.
We are experiencing stormier weather and greater warming due to climate change, challenging our ability to clean and manage water flows. Policymakers with good intentions disagree on how to weave together a patchwork of structural ‘fixes’ attempted over the years.
When I speak to civic leaders and HOAs about our water management challenges, people say, ‘The problem seems so big! What can we do?’
It turns out a lot.
1) Communicate to county commissioners and state and federal leaders that water management in Palm Beach County is a crisis, not a convenience.
In each of the last several years, we’ve had a water crisis — closed beaches, flooded properties or warnings on household water use. With the pandemic’s challenges apparently behind us, tell policymakers that our water issues can be solved if we put them at the top of the policy priority list.
PBC has the talent and expertise to tackle them. With new state and federal monies, we can quickly identify and expedite some shovel-ready projects to store and clean water, including establishing a flow way to replenish the Loxahatchee River.
2) Educate others on the ongoing water crisis facing us. Ask your city, town or village officials what your municipality can do to protect our water supply and the marine ecosystems we depend on for recreation and tourism.
What we do day to day has a big impact. Does your town encourage Florida-friendly landscaping that requires less water, fertilizer, and pest control? Many towns have conservation committees promoting best practices: join or start one.
Does your town have a sewer system? If not, are septic systems managed in a responsible way? Does it have a plan to convert to sewers?
Does it have a drainage system that filters wastewater through sand layers after heavy storms?
Does it encourage or mandate permeable driveways to mitigate runoff? Over the last three decades, due to the county’s growth, we’ve paved over many of the natural water filtering systems that have cleaned runoff before it enters our flow-ways to the ocean.
3) Be prepared to pay a small amount a year for a long-term solution. Environmental, business, and civic groups realize that the county’s long-term water problems, if not solved, will derail growth, halt tourism revenues, and spoil much of what we hold dear about our county.
Led by Mayor David Kerner, we hope to see a water bond on the ballot in 2022. Each homeowner and business contributing a few dollars annually for the life of the bond to fix the county’s water challenges is a small price to pay to protect paradise.