What does START do to help improve the quality of our waterways?
START has a three-pronged approach to help reduce excess nutrients:
1. Public Education Program: START provides a variety of educational materials to inform the community about the importance of reducing excess nutrients in our coastal waters including:
- Website at start1.org
- Monthly E-Newsletter
- Activity Brochure
- PSA’s for local TV stations
- Red Tide & You presentation
- Healthy Pond presentation
The Red Tide & You presentation answers the following five questions:
- What causes red tide blooms?
- Why are they so prevalent here on the Suncoast?
- What is being done to control red tide?
- What is START doing to control excess nutrients in our waterways?
- How can you help reduce your nutrient footprint to improve water quality?
To arrange a screening of Red Tide & You or our Healthy Pond presentation for your organization, contact START at Colleen@start1.org.
2. Water Quality Outreach Program: START stays in contact with federal, state and local policy makers to encourage them to fund nutrient reducing programs including:
A. Promoting the new LOSOM program used by the Army Corps of Engineers that will reduce the number of polluted releases from Lake Okeechobee that feed Red Tide.
B. Requesting more funding support for our local governments to be able to upgrade their wastewater treatment plants, convert more septic systems to sewers and upgrade inefficient stormwater ponds.
3. Nutrient Control Programs: START forms partnerships with other water quality organizations to maintain the following nutrient reduction programs:
- Stormwater can cause dangerous flooding
- Stormwater runoff accounts for 65% of the nitrogen in the Sarasota Bay Watershed that feeds Red Tide
- Most of our local stormwater ponds are only operating at 40% to 60% efficiency in removing excess nutrients before they flow downstream
If your ponds are plagued with unsightly algal growth or your pond banks are eroding and facing costly repairs.
Click Here -> To learn how START and the Healthy Pond Collaborative can help.
B. The Southern Quahog clam is native to our waters and is also an important water filtering part of our marine ecosystem. These clams typically filter from 9 to 12 gallons of water a day and create furrows that help promote seagrass growth. START continues its ongoing partnership with the Sarasota Bay Watch to help fund their Clam Seeding Program that has now seeded over two million clams in Sarasota Bay.
Click Here -> For more details about the Clam Seeding environmental program.
START is also a partner in the highly successful All Clams On Deck program led by START Board member, Ed Chiles, who spearheaded the funding effort that produced $5.5 million to date for the Gulf Shellfish Institute to conduct further research on the role that clams and seagrass can play together to improve water quality in our coastal waters. An appropriation of $2.5 million came from the State of Florida, $500 thousand was provided by Manatee County and $2.5 million came through a federal appropriation.
The program will further the growth of the clam industry, document the concept of coastal restoration through clams and seagrass and demonstrate through research the role clams and seagrass can play in improving water quality, mitigating red tide and sequestering carbon. Clams offer a variety of food benefits and seagrass provides critical habitat for 70% of our sea life during some time in their life cycle. This valuable research is expected to generate other clam and seagrass projects throughout Florida and beyond in other parts of the country and the world.
C. Oysters are an important natural nutrient-reducing species as they can filter from 9 to 50 gallons of seawater every day and they are resistant to red tide. The Gulf Coast Oyster Recycle and Renewal (GCORR) Program saves shell from diners at eight Manatee County Shuck ‘N Save Restaurants that are transported by Waste Pro USA to a County storage area where they are cured over time and will be used to restore oyster reefs along the Manatee River.
Click Here -> To learn more about the effort to restore our oyster reefs.
D. START is a founding member of the Suncoast Urban Reforesters (SURF), a coalition of nonprofits that plants high-performance microforests on small parcels of land not slated for further development. Microforests are dense, thicket-like stands of diverse native plant life that intercept and divert significant quantities of stormwater that would otherwise transport excess nutrients into our waterways. Using a highly engineered approach developed by Japanese Botanist Akira Miyawaki, SURF volunteers lay down a simulated and highly absorbent forest floor of cardboard covered with woodchips and install three saplings per meter to create shade stress that prompts fast growth and heavy water absorption. Microforests help promote coastal water quality by reducing erosion, developing new habitat for wildlife displaced by urbanization and sequestering carbon as a hedge against climate change. For more information about planning a Microforest for your community, contact Charles Reith at SURF at charles.c.reith @ gmail.com.
