What’s the state of our water? Answers come from stakeholders at chamber event

Once a taken-for-granted bankable asset, Southwest Florida's degraded water quality is now a critical, contentious topic..

Water issues here have people scrambling for solutions.

A recent Chamber of Southwest Florida event was a case in point. Five stakeholders from very different sectors gathered Wednesday [Aug. 28th] to offer insights on challenges and solutions to a crowd of more than 100.

That the event was organized by a chamber of commerce was telling. In recent decades, water woes have gone from something to be glossed over or minimized to a challenge to be confronted squarely by the business community.

Perspectives differed. While most of the five panelists rated the state of the region's water a solid C – seven out of 10 – Calusa Waterkeeper Codty Pierce gave it a failing four.

The panelists were:

• Codty Pierce – Calusa Waterkeeper
• Ernie Barnett – Florida Land Council
• Brandon Bowman – U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
• Charlotte Roman – South Florida Water Management District
• Greg Tolley – Florida Gulf Coast University Water School