Environmental groups are asking the Biden administration to set water quality standards for algal bloom toxins in Florida, a mounting problem in Sunshine State waterways threatening human health and local businesses.
As algal blooms in Florida become more frequent and severe, the state’s limits on nutrient pollution are not sufficient to protect the public from unsafe beaches and contaminated drinking water, the Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Everglades and other groups said in a petition to EPA.
The groups are asking EPA to step in and force the state to take action.
“The state relies on things like nutrient standards or chlorophyll,” said Jason Totoiu, a senior attorney at the CDB. “We’re submitting that that’s not enough, because those types of standards aren’t human health-based.”
