Environment

Blooms and bureaucracy imperil the University of Florida’s landmark campus lake.

Water quality concerns in rural Florida leave some families with groundwater wells dependent on bottled water in one of the most water-rich parts of the United States.

Florida’s pristine waters are its calling card for tourists, who are now returning to the state in record numbers. But what happens when crushing numbers of visitors harm the natural environment that draws them?

The Clean Water Act of 1972 cleaned up the sewage pollution that once fouled waters from Biscayne Bay to Escambia Bay and across the nation. But extreme rains and more-severe hurricanes brought on by climate change, along with aging infrastructure, have sent hundreds of millions of gallons of sewage into Florida’s waters and communities.