Beach cleanup works to keep the shores beautiful

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Dead fish on the shores. (WINK News photo)
Dead fish on the shores. (WINK News photo)

Sunday offers an opportunity to keep our beaches clean and beautiful. Volunteers are meeting at Fort Myers Beach Sunday morning as they said this is a project more important than ever.

Near 9 a.m., 400 people will be cleaning up the Fort Myers Beach area, tossing out litter. Some volunteers who said, it is imperative to raise awareness for our beaches after a year plagued with water quality issues.

This week, we got new leaders who are fighting to keep our water clean. Gov. Ron DeSantis stopped in Southwest Florida Tuesday to appoint two new board members to the South Florida Water Management District.

DeSantis appointed “Alligator” Ron Bergeron who is a fierce Everglades conservationist. He also appointed Sanibel City Councilman Chauncey Goss. Goss has been part of numerous non-profits fighting for better water quality.

Charlotte County hosted a water quality summit this past week, which addressed red tide and the blue-green algae problems we saw last summer. They heard from dozens of scientists and water quality experts about what is being done to keep our water clean.

The summit informed people on the Everglades Restoration Project, which includes nearly 70 projects to create other places for the water from Lake Okeechobee to go.

Since some of those are several years from being finished, some engineering firms recommend looking at short term solutions with septic tanks.

But, many in attendance said it is going to take more than local leadership to get the job done.

“I’d like to get some practical answers because I don’t think the answers lie with us in Punta Gorda, or us in Port Charlotte,” Sushila Cherian said. “It lies up in Tallahassee. It lies in the decisions that they make.”

But, we have seen a lot of people right here in Southwest Florida step up to help preserve our beaches. One way beachgoers are stepping up on Sunday is by picking up the trash that lines our shores.

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