Officials take bold action to tackle worsening city water crisis: 'We need many voices to carry the message'

Officials in Miami-Dade County have launched a trio of filtration projects to address stormwater pollution and flooding that have affected nearby waterways.

Biscayne Bay has long suffered from pollution and poor water quality, according to the Miami Herald. The smell of dead fish during the summer and a noxious combination of oil, fertilizer, and wastewater flowing into the bay and its canals has become the norm.

Miami Waterkeeper's CEO Rachel Silverstein told the outlet that stormwater "is one of the major sources of pollution, from the land into our waterways," and she's been using $22 million in grants won over the last four years to address the problem. 

In 2020, Miami resident Omar Jimenez saw the water quality take a turn for the worse and shared his experience with Caplin News. 

"I looked into the water, and it was covered with spots everywhere," he recalled. "And, when I started looking closer, I saw they were the white and yellow bellies of pufferfish. They were all over the canal floating upside down, dead. That's when I said, 'I'm not getting into the water anymore.'" 

The county's outdated storm drain system has been ill-equipped to handle the growing flooding problem, which has been exacerbated by increased development and stronger storms driven by the changing climate. 

Clean water is a necessity for the health of residents, and the regional tourism economy relies on it. 

One of the solutions was to set up bioswales — large vegetated areas used to naturally filter runoff before it reaches the bay. 

Traditional gates are also being used to remove solid waste such as plastic bottles and other debris, but they're augmented by a third, multilayer filtering system that mimics how forests and wetlands naturally purify water, the report explained. 

Rainwater passes through a series of chambers as it rushes through drainage systems, where porous rock, sand, and biofilters trap sediment, absorb heavy metals, and remove other pollutants before the water is released into the canals and, ultimately, Biscayne Bay.

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The Department of Environmental Resources Management (DERM) hopes the updated infrastructure will improve bacterial and nutrient levels in the bay and will conduct tests this rainy season to gauge their success. 

Liza Herrera, the lead engineer at the Department of Public Works at Miami-Dade County, expects to see improvements but shared with the Miami Herald that community involvement is the next important step in improving the ecosystem and reducing waste in the area.

"We need someone with a voice, and we need many voices to carry the message," Herrera said. "Engineers know it. Chemists know it. I know it. It is a very select group of people that are aware of these issues. It does not get to the public."

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