People from all over the world come to Florida to see its clear, bright blue rivers, springs, and beaches. Water is our most important resource and also the one we are most likely to lose. Florida does not do very well when it comes to water quality and waste.

Chemicals are put into the environment every single day. Our land, air, water, and health are all affected by it. Polluting our area can lead to health problems like breathing problems, cancer, birth defects, and even death in some cases. Also, pollution has an effect on animals and marine life.

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection says that the state has 52 superfund sites, 501 brownfields, 11,689 petroleum cleanups, and more than 1,500 other sites with dry-cleaning fluids or other hazardous waste.

When chemicals, industrial waste, and pesticides run off into the water, they carry harmful chemicals to marine animals and maybe even to the water we drink. 

Too much of something is pollution, so we made a list of Florida’s ten most dangerous pollution problems, in no particular order:

Recycling single-use plastic

In 2016, Floridians generated 37.4 million tonnes of solid garbage, according to the Florida DEP. Local governments face growing landfill space, cost, and contamination.

Plastics exacerbate the problem. Recycling plastic won’t solve the pollution problem. Grocery bags survive throughout the environment, and we presumably eat plastic in seafood.

Panama City Dumpster Rental Bros will help you if you produce a lot of waste, and it’s not all organic. Asbestos, hazardous chemicals, coal ash, and lead paint are discarded. Coal ash contains cadmium, arsenic, and mercury. Poor garbage management could let it infiltrate into surrounding water systems. Little things matter too.

Rechargeable batteries contain harmful metals and compounds like lead oxide that contaminate soil. Garbage disposal is a challenge that will rise as the population and natural resources are utilized.

Pollution from phosphate mining

A total of 27 phosphate mines encompass 450,000 acres in Florida. These mines offer phosphate, a material used in fertiliser, and fluoride for drinking water. Mining creates gypsacks of fertiliser waste. Radon and uranium are included. EPA claims it’s too radioactive to bury, so it’s stacked, creating a poisonous wasteland.

Phosphate mining is a major pollutant in Florida. The state’s biggest polluter. Uranium, radium, thorium, and lead are found nearby. Central Florida homeowners sued after realising they lived on former mine sites.

Gamma rays can permeate the body and cause lymphomas, bone tumours, and leukemias. Mining uranium releases radon, an odourless cancer-causing gas. Phosphate mining pollutes air, streams, and wildlife habitats. The state’s biggest polluter. 

Phosphorus/nitrogen contamination

Florida has phosphorus-rich soil. Too much nitrogen and phosphorus causes pollution in the air and water. This causes environmental and human health hazards in coastal seas, lakes, rivers, and streams.

Fertilisers, animal dung, soil erosion, stormwater, sewage wastewater, and soap are nutrient polluters. These sources can pollute neighbouring water with phosphorus.

High phosphorus levels in the water produce toxic cyanobacteria blooms. These blooms can release mammalian and human-harmful poisons. It affects drinking water. Farms, lawns, sewage tank leaks, golf courses, landscaping, even Orlando theme parks can contribute.

Farmers’ runoff has polluted Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades for decades. Fertiliser runoff kills fish and wildlife. In 1988, the feds sued Florida over phosphorus pollution. To clean up previous farmland, the state created Stormwater Treatment Areas.

Pesticide/herbicide pollution

Florida has huge bugs. Bats, tiny reptiles, birds, and rodents eat insects. Eliminating insects may upset the ecology. Pesticides poison lawns, attract pests, and harm pets and children. These substances may cause cancer and neurological system problems.

Bug-eating bats and birds are hazardous to pesticides. When it rains, many pesticides don’t break down and runoff into streams. Chemical runoff harms fish and frogs. FWC manages invasive species with aquatic herbicides.

Glyphosate has known side effects. According to FWC data, Lake Okeechobee received 12,263 pounds of pesticides in 2017. Scientists detected reproductive abnormalities in frogs and malformed fish in the lake.

Sewage Spills/Sludge

Broken sewer pipes spill poisonous waste into streets and waterways. In two months, Fort Lauderdale’s waterways received 200 million gallons of sewage. It kills fish, crab, oysters, and plankton. Weekly statewide leaks occur. Sewage contains bacteria, hepatitis A, and parasites. Sewage spills can harm rivers, lakes, and drinking water.

We limit summer fertilisers that can feed dangerous algae blooms but allow landowners to use “Class B” garbage. Sewage sludge comprises organic compounds, harmful metals, irritants, and microorganisms. These biosolids may include carcinogenic PFAS and other pollutants.

A 2002 University of Georgia study found more illness and disease near biosolids fields. Spreading sewage sludge threatens decades of water quality improvements.

Drinking water infrastructure

Unless tainted, Florida’s drinking water is safe. Polluted groundwater can reach drinking water systems, posing health risks to children and young people, according to the EPA. Various chemicals and microbes can swiftly penetrate the state’s aquifer water.

When drinking water in a certain area becomes contaminated, the local government puts out “boil water notifications,” instructing residents to boil their water for one minute before consuming it. Boiling destroys most parasites, bacteria, and viruses, but evaporation adds other pollutants. Clean water requires infrastructure and regulations.

Environmental Hazards

Hazardous garbage, including toxic chemicals, pollutes water. Mishandling hazardous materials can cause health and safety issues.

Factories, farms, and building sites produce hazardous waste. Industrial establishments discharged 270 times the allowable quantity into Florida’s seas, according to a March 29 report. Tenth-worst national total.

Over 2,100 licensed industrial wastewater facilities are in Florida, according to the Department of Protection. Many factories use freshwater to dispose of garbage. Wastewater is polluted drain water.

Power plants near water release lead, mercury, cadmium, arsenic, and chromium. PCE, asbestos, lead, mercury, nitrates, phosphates, sulphur, oils, and petrochemicals are common industrial wastes. This water ends up in a dangerous environment, unlike irrigation water.

Florida’s aquifer has been protected by deep injection wells since the 1960s. Injection wells bury hazardous liquids.

These wells use a high-pressure pump to inject poisonous waste underground. Abandoned groundwater wells can bring garbage to the surface.

Polluters dump in injection wells. Florida’s hazardous waste regulations are poor. Polluters aren’t held responsible for dumping harmful chemicals.

Beach water pollution

Waste has been dumped in the waters for decades. Sewage, power plants, cruise ships, radioactive waste, submarines, manure, and more pollute the water.

Millions of gallons of trash dumped annually in the ocean carry disease-causing organisms and can induce bacterial infections in swimmers. The waste affects human health, coral reefs, sea creatures, and vegetation.

Ships carry sewage, wastewater, hazardous pollutants, solid waste, oil, and air pollution. Large ships produce approximately 200,000 gallons of sewage.

They frequent the same Florida ports, where their influence is greater. Cruise ships dump the trash, fuel, and waste into the water. Several cruise lines have been punished for dumping sewage into oceans, damaging beaches, and killing marine life.

High mercury

Environment-sourced mercury exists. In Florida, mercury from coal-fired power plants poses a serious threat to human health. Mercury can fly far. Mercury from smokestacks contaminates streams and fish. Mercury exposure is mostly through eating seafood.

Environmental Legacy

Your kids may be playing on dumps. Florida’s land was once dumped on. Former dumps are turned into parks or redeveloped. These sites are contaminated. Legacy pollutants bioaccumulate and settle in soil.

Legacy pollutants include heavy metals, lead, barium, arsenic, and PCBs. In 1994, the DOD created the Restoration Advisory Board (RAB) to monitor cleanup projects at toxic sites. The space industry used to dump TCE (trichloroethylene), a known carcinogen, into sandy soil.

Enhancing Florida’s Water Supply

Many of us immediately think of factories and farms when we consider the origins of pollution and excess nutrients in our surface and groundwater systems.

However, locals, companies, and tourists all add to the pollution of South Florida’s waterways by dumping waste into the region’s lakes, rivers, and wetlands.

The local stormwater management systems, the use of fertilisers, herbicides, and pesticides, and the awareness of how easily household chemicals and other pollutants can be flushed into ground and surface water systems are all ways in which individuals and small businesses can help to reduce pollution.

Panama City Dumpster Rental Bros aim to promote eco-friendly practices and support proper waste disposal to protect Florida’s natural beauty.