By: Nancy Smith, Sunshine State News
Caulkins Water Farm, one of the few truly good-news projects to emerge on the Treasure Coast since blue-green algae began fouling the St. Lucie estuary, has received one of Keep Martin Beautiful's 12 2018 Environmental Stewardship Awards.
The "farm" was presented with the River Advocate Award -- named in memory of clean-water advocate Capt. Don Voss, who died in 2017.
The property, run by a public-private partnership, was a citrus grove that fell victim to greening. It now serves as a receiving and holding reservoir for water from Lake Okeechobee and the C-44 watersheds.
Said George Caulkins, president of Caulkins Citrus Co., who accepted the award, "Caulkins Water Farm and its team remains committed to doing what it can to help preserve and protect Martin County’s waterways from damaging discharges. I am hopeful our success and speed to completion will encourage other public-private partnerships to come online and help save our estuaries. I am humbled and honored to receive this recognition as we all work together to help improve water quality in our region.”
The award names Caulkins and his two partners, the South Florida Water Management District and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection…