By Tyler Treadway
The newly appointed South Florida Water Management District board hinted Wednesday that besides building water-cleaning projects, they intend to impose stricter regulations on polluters.
And the newest board member led the charge during a workshop on the district's role in cleaning the state's water.
Increased nutrient pollution entering Lake Okeechobee "is coming from somewhere," said Ronald "Alligator Ron" Bergeron, who is scheduled to be sworn in as a board member Thursday. "We've got to get a hold on where it's coming from, and we need to monitor and regulate it before it enters state waters."
Removing pollution, particularly the nitrogen and phosphorus from fertilizer that cause toxic algae blooms, from water at its source, Bergeron said, "is 20 times cheaper than building projects to clean it up later."