State moving forward with Caloosahatchee River pollution plan

A state agency charged with protecting Florida's waters is moving closer to finalizing a plan to reduce the amount of pollution flowing into the Caloosahatchee River and its estuary.

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection met with local water quality experts and advocates Wednesday to discuss how to best implement the science and data that has already been gathered to target pollutants like nitrogen and phosphorus in Florida waterways.

More than 11 million pounds of nitrogen flow down the river each year, clouding waters and sometimes feeding algal blooms that can cause fish and marine mammal kills and beach closures.

Called Total Maximum Daily Loads, or TMDLs, these plans are developed by the state to help clean up polluted waters and are based on a variety of data and models used to predict how systems will changes when pollution loads are reduced.