According to a panel discussion last Friday, the Florida Legislature did a fair job handling water issues this year.
Legislators gave millions of dollars for Everglades restoration projects, drinking-water issues and lake clean-ups.
The Arthur R. Marshall Foundation for The Everglades, the League of Women Voters of Palm Beach County and Oxbridge Academy hosted the discussion.
Todd Bonlarron handles legislative affairs for Palm Beach County. He says the one thing the Legislature didn’t pay enough attention to was the more than 900 Florida springs.
"In the area of springs, I think the Legislature took a baby step," Bonlarron said. "While they put $30 million towards some of the spring cleanups that they were looking at doing, I think that they kicked the can to the next legislature to deal with those particular issues."
There was less certainty about when legislative action would be taken on sea-level rise. Tommy Strowd of the Lake Worth Drainage District said acknowledgement of the problem is just beginning.
"We’re just coming to a point technologically that we’re recognizing [that] risk is there, and we now have to understand what [the] level of risk," he said. "Some of those technologies to do those evaluations are just now coming to light."
Mark Pafford, CEO of the Arthur R. Marshall Foundation for the Everglades, attributes legislative action to the pressure environmental groups and concerned constituents have put on state legislatures. Pafford believes that in the coming decades their influence will continue to play a big part in Florida state sessions.
