Clean Water Is Not a Special Interest

AWT Is the Cornerstone

Advanced Wastewater Treatment, or AWT, sharply reduces the nitrogen and phosphorus left in treated wastewater. Florida's AWT standards generally limit total nitrogen to 3 milligrams per liter and total phosphorus to 1 milligram per liter. Tampa Bay's seagrass recovery shows what cutting nutrient loading can accomplish.

City Council unanimously approved an ordinance directing the City to move forward with AWT, and later authorized the Water and Sewer Department to proceed with design-build bidding. That commitment must be carried through to completion.

If elected, I will work to ensure the City follows the ordinance, manages the project carefully, and remains accountable to residents for its cost, schedule and results.

AWT Alone Is Not Enough

Restoring our waterways takes a coordinated approach. I have also advocated for:

• Consistent fertilizer ordinance enforcement, backed by education, inspections and real consequences.

• Improved stormwater management to cut the pollutants that runoff carries into the canals.

• An end to grass clippings and yard debris blown into streets and storm drains.

• A scientifically sound plan for the nutrients stored in canal-bottom sediment.

• Regular, understandable and publicly available water quality reporting.

This Affects Every Resident

Marco Island's reputation as a clean waterfront community supports property values across the entire island. Buyers, appraisers and lenders notice when waterways decline. Boating, fishing, recreation, restaurants, shops and tourism all depend on healthy water. Harmful algae can also become a public health concern through contact with the water, exposure to the surrounding air or contaminated seafood.

Our canals do not exist in isolation. They connect to the bays, estuaries and nearshore waters every resident enjoys.

If you live on or near one of Marco Island's roughly 100 miles of canals, you may already recognize the warning signs: murky water, surface slicks, algae mats, floating debris, unpleasant odors and, occasionally, dead fish near docks.

These are not merely cosmetic problems. Our canals are central to Marco Island's environment, property values, economy and quality of life. Their condition affects every resident, whether or not they live on the water.

Why It Is Happening

Testing has found elevated nitrogen and phosphorus throughout the canal system. Those nutrients come from nutrient-laden reuse water, stormwater runoff, fertilizer, pet waste, grass clippings and sediment that has built up on canal bottoms over decades. Marco Island distributes roughly 700 million gallons of reuse water a year.

When algae bloom, die and decompose, they strip oxygen from the water, stress or kill fish, and produce the odors and toxins canal-front residents have lived with.

The problem has been studied thoroughly. The question now is whether Marco Island will act on what the research shows.

Debris and surface scum outside a Marco canal home, from my dock.

Algae bloom mat, Marco Island canal

I have worked on Marco Island's water quality issues since 2016, as a member and former chairman of the City's Waterways Advisory Committee and a founding member of Clean Marco Waters LLC.

Clean water is not a special interest. It is the foundation of everything that makes Marco Island worth living on and investing in. If elected, I will hold the City accountable for AWT implementation, fertilizer ordinance enforcement, and the monitoring and transparency residents deserve.

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Contact Rick

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RickWforMarco2026@gmail.com

239-300-5442

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Political advertisement paid for and approved by Rick Woodworth, 2026 candidate for Marco Island City Council

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