Sarasota Bay showing sustained improvement, estuary director tells commissioners

Dave Tomasco, PhD, executive director of the Sarasota Bay Estuary Program, told the Sarasota City Commission April 21 that overall water-quality measures in Sarasota Bay have improved and that the region has met its recent nitrogen-reduction goals.

Tomasco said the program set a target in 2021 to reduce the most damaging forms of nitrogen by 12 tons per year and that recent monitoring shows a roughly 22 percent decline in the worst-affected parts of the lower bay compared with the peak problem years around 2018. He credited large wastewater upgrades, stormwater retrofits and local government projects for driving the improvement.

Why it matters: Healthy bay waters support an estimated 20,000 jobs tied to water-based businesses and contribute billions of dollars in property value, Tomasco said. He warned that poor water quality reduces habitat for seagrass, manatees and juvenile fish and that warmer water and more intense storms tied to climate change increase risks from algal blooms and low-oxygen…