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Nitrogen limits will help bay

Tampa Bay Estuary photo

Environmental scientist Lindsay Cross examines seagrass, which serves as a feeding ground for manatees.

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BY YVETTE C. HAMMETT

yhammett@tampatrib.com

Published: September 30, 2009

ST. PETERSBURG - A meeting of the minds among business and government leaders whose actions affect the health of Tampa Bay will help keep the estuary on a road to recovery.

The group came together years ago to reverse the damage done to the bay by massive doses of nitrogen and other pollutants. And it has been working.

That same group is taking another step toward that end.

A plan two years in the making limits the amount of nitrogen flowing into the bay from phosphate companies, water treatment plants and the like, to today's level. The limits would stay in place through 2012.

Any new nitrogen produced by stakeholders as a result of growth will have to be offset using pollution controls.

What that means for the bay is better water quality and clarity, which in turn, means more seagrasses - underwater lawns that serve as nursery grounds for young sea life and feeding grounds for others, such as manatees.

A healthier bay also means better fishing grounds for residents and visitors who venture into the bay for snook, redfish and other tasty sea life.

"It's a very big accomplishment and a major first step" toward accomplishing what the state and federal government will soon require, said Holly Greening, executive director of the Tampa Bay Estuary Program.

Once every government agency and business signs off on the plan, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection will convert the voluntary nitrogen limits into permit requirements

Jeff Stewart, environmental superintendent for Mosaic Phosphate, which has a plant on the bay in Riverview, said the process was tedious, but all parties worked together agreeing not to exceed nitrogen loads in the bay based on figures from 2003-2007.

"We've got water as clear as it was in 1950 and more than 8,000 acres of seagrass recovered since the 1980s," Greening said. "We've had some real success in environmental management, due to cooperation between partners."

Reporter Yvette C. Hammett can be reached at (813) 627-4763.

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