Calusa Waterkeeper names Connie Ramos-Williams new director
Back in 2018, Connie Ramos-Williams was driving over the old Sanibel Bridge when she saw the depth and breadth of that year’s blue-green algae outbreak. The nasty green goo was everywhere, affecting everything. Ramos-Williams burst into tears.
At that moment, she promised herself, if she ever got the chance to do anything about the harmful algae bloom crisis, she would.
Now, as the new director of Calusa Waterkeeper, she is front and center in the fight against harmful algae blooms.
“I came out of early retirement to take the role of director of the Calusa Waterkeeper because I really do find it my mission to help protect our number one natural resource and that’s water,” she said. “We are facing a crisis with our water. And if our generation doesn’t do something to find solutions to restore clean water in our communities it’s going to get passed on to our next generation.”
Connie Ramos-Williams, the new director of Calusa Waterkeepr who starts April 1, came out of retirement to help the environmental nonprofit clean up Southwest Florida's waterways and keep them that way for future generations
Calusa Waterkeeper, 400-people-strong and mainly comprised of volunteers, works to restore and maintain the health of the Caloosahatchee River, which flows from Lake Okeechobee to the Gulf of Mexico, and its surrounding watersheds. That’s 1,000 square miles of water in all that Ramos-Williams is going to try and find a way to keep clean for future generations.
“We can't keep passing the buck,” she said. “We need to do something now. We can find solutions. We can help to preserve our water."
Finding ways to keep the Caloosahatchee River clean with the triple threats of stormwater runoff from nearby roads and parking lots, releases of polluted water from Lake Okeechobee, and phosphorus and nitrogen from over-fertilizing lawns is just one of the many waterways Calusa Waterkeeper's 400 volunteers and staff work to clean up and keep that way for future generations