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Pond Watchers: Local Efforts for Clean Ponds link to Cleaner Water in SWFL

Leon County Judge John Cooper on June 30, 2022, in a screen grab from The Florida Channel.
Photo: Eleanor-Ann Davis, Pond Watch volunteer
/
The Florida Channel
Leon County Judge John Cooper on June 30, 2022, in a screen grab from The Florida Channel.

South Florida's clean water crisis often focuses on large-scale topics like Lake Okeechobee, but Southwest Florida water watchers say the conversation must also include smaller-scale bodies of water: the health of ponds, lakes, and canals that dot the landscape across the region.

Dr. Serge Thomas, an environmental studies professor at FGCU who's focus has turned from oceanography to the humble pond, joins Gulf Coast Live to discuss the ways local treatments for ponds and other waterways can imperil plants, animals, and larger bodies of water in the ecosystem.

He says the way we treat our ponds can be the first step to ensuring "natural, clean water cycles in Southwest Florida."

Also joining the program is Dr. Ernesto Lasso de la Vega, the Pond Watch coordinator for the Lee County Hyacinth Control District, whose public outreach and education helps homeowners and community members take charge of local ponds and waterways.

Copyright 2020 WGCU. To see more, visit WGCU.

Matthew Smith is a reporter and producer of WGCU’s Gulf Coast Live.
Julie Glenn is the host of Gulf Coast Live. She has been working in southwest Florida as a freelance writer since 2007, most recently as a regular columnist for the Naples Daily News. She began her broadcasting career in 1993 as a reporter/anchor/producer for a local CBS affiliate in Quincy, Illinois. After also working for the NBC affiliate, she decided to move to Parma, Italy where she earned her Master’s degree in communication from the University of Gastronomic Sciences. Her undergraduate degree in Mass Communication is from the University of Missouri at Kansas City.