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JUMP into the water anywhere in Lee County and you definitely won’t be alone. Whether in a lake, stream, river or the Gulf of Mexico, whether the color’s a beautiful blue or reddened by coastal mangroves, you’re always sharing the water with stormwater runoff.
As we develop the land, there is less and less open area available to act as a natural filtering system. Rain that once soaked into the ground now very often falls on roofs, parking lots and cars; fertilized lawns and golf courses, treated with pesticides, cover more and more of Lee County’s land area every year. Less and less natural ground cover is available to naturally filter and clean the water that falls as rain. Stormwater runoff consists of small amounts of some unpleasant ingredients – namely, whatever washes off our streets, lawns, golf courses and fields: pesticides, animal waste, detergents, trash, oil, antifreeze, gasoline, and other toxic substances. Additionally, rivers, streams and lakes all contain naturally occurring algae, bacteria, viruses and parasites of their own.
Our water quality can’t be judged by the naked eye; clear water isn't necessarily an indication of clean water. The water we swim in may at any given time have traveled across tarred roofs and asphalt parking lots, meandered through freshly fertilized gardens and pet walks, and traversed a construction site or two. "Storm water carries pollutants, and is considered by the Environmental Protection Agency to be the number one pollutant to our nation's waters today," says Robert South, epidemiologist with the Lee County Health Department. Adds Gary Maier, health department Environmental Engineering Manager, "Stormwater runoff is one reason that the Lee County Health Department advises everyone to swim only in approved areas, such as public swimming pools, Lakes Park or any one of our salt water beaches – areas that are constantly monitored for safe bacterial levels."
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