9.6 Develop and deliver collaborative water quality education and outreach using local partnerships and networks

Key Message: Collaborative education and outreach that leverage trusted local networks, embrace multicultural communication, and deliver consistent and creative science-based messages can inspire and motivate homeowners, students, bay users, and other audiences to reduce their nutrient pollution footprint.

Importance

More targeted educational outreach is needed to raise awareness, build support for water quality protection and restoration, and encourage individual action to reduce nutrient pollution. Connecting water quality with community values such as quality of life, public health, recreation, sense of place, and economic drivers like tourism and real estate is an effective strategy. Other useful frames of reference include local food, harmful algal blooms, and water heritage. Educating citizens about actions like following fertilizer ordinances, picking up pet waste, or maintaining septic systems is critical to directly reducing nonpoint source pollution.

Multiple benefits can be achieved through collaborative education and outreach using local partnerships and networks. The most effective messaging blends science, art, psychology, culture, and marketing. A collaborative message development process brings together these disciplines. Messages from trusted, local voices are viewed as more credible, and people are more likely to change behaviors when exposed to consistent messages from multiple sources. Small modifications can target specific audiences—for example, translating materials into multiple languages or emphasizing birds, fish, or recreation. Established networks also provide trusted communication channels for business sectors like tourism and real estate, while offering cost efficiencies by leveraging investments in experienced outreach specialists, websites, mailing lists, and annual events (see Chapter 9.5).

Overview

Water quality education and outreach is developed and delivered by a variety of organizations working at national to local levels.

National

United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) provides education on water quality and nutrient pollution, including individual actions to reduce impacts. The EPA’s National Estuary Programs conduct direct outreach in Sarasota County.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) provides coastal water quality education and professional development workshops (see Chapter 9.5).

North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE) offers programs, conferences, and advocacy to advance environmental literacy and civic engagement, but does not conduct direct outreach in Sarasota County.

State

Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) offers online educational materials and leads the Florida Nonpoint Educators Network (FNEN), which develops workshops, webinars, and templates for stormwater educators. FNEN’s influence in Sarasota County is limited.

Florida Department of Health (FDOH) produces educational materials on water quality at swimming beaches that are available online.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) provides online materials about boating, fishing, and marine wildlife related to water quality that are available online.

Florida Marine Science Educators Association (FMSEA) members have access to their professional learning community, regional outings, workshops, and conferences. FMSEA does not provide direct outreach in Sarasota County.

League of Environmental Educators in Florida (LEEF) advances environmental literacy and stewardship in Florida through its 200+ members working in schools, nature centers, zoos, youth organizations, science research stations, and universities. LEEF does not provide direct outreach in Sarasota County.

Regional

The Southwest Florida Water Management District (SWFWMD) produces educational materials distributed online and at local events. It has previously funded outreach efforts by the Science and Environment Council in the Sarasota County area.

Sarasota Bay Estuary Program (SBEP) and Coastal & Heartland National Estuary Partnership (CHNEP) develop and deliver water quality outreach for homeowners and businesses. Their efforts include print and online materials, festivals, informational hikes and paddles, citizen science, cleanups, invasive species removal, native plantings, and habitat restoration activities (see Chapter 1.5, Chapter 2.5, Chapter 4.4, Chapter 5.2, Chapter 7.1, Chapter 7.2, Chapter 7.3, Chapter 7.4).

The Science and Environment Council (SEC) develops and delivers water quality education and outreach throughout the Sarasota area, including flyers, posters, rack cards, story sheets, social media posts, websites, large format displays and kiosks, educational surveys, workshops, expos, and conferences. The SEC is a non-profit network of 45 leading science-based educational organizations working in Sarasota and Manatee Counties. For more than a decade, SEC has developed successful water quality outreach and education collaborations with UF/IFAS Extension, Sarasota County Government, Southwest Florida Water Management District, Sarasota Bay Estuary Program, and non-profit environmental organizations, which reach hundreds of thousands of people each year (see Chapter 1.5, Chapter 2.5, Chapter 4.4, Chapter 7.1, and Chapter 7.4).

Together, teams of SEC member organizations develop and deliver water quality education and outreach in the Sarasota region. For example, the Healthy Ponds Collaborative (HPC), supported by the Barancik Foundation, includes START, Sarasota County NEST, UF/IFAS Sarasota Extension, and SEC. It provides community guidance and funding for stormwater pond improvements (see Chapter 7.1 and Chapter 7.2). The Green Living Toolkit, created by a dozen SEC member organizations with Barancik Foundation support, is an online toolkit for sustainable living. It includes how-to resources on curbing nutrient pollution around the home and how to become a neighborhood leader for restoring neighborhood ponds and reducing polluted runoff (see Chapter 7.1).

Sarasota County

UF/IFAS Extension Sarasota County is a partnership between UF/IFAS and Sarasota County which develops and delivers water quality outreach and education in Sarasota County (see Chapter 4.4, Chapter 4.5, Chapter 4.6, Chapter 4.7, Chapter 5.3, Chapter 7.1, Chapter 7.2, Chapter 7.3, and Chapter 7.4). Ongoing programs with water quality components include:

• Residential Florida-Friendly Landscaping™ Education
• Master Gardener Volunteer Program
• Homeowners Association Consultations: Landscapes and Stormwater Ponds
• Landscape Industry Best Management Practices Trainings
• Agriculture Best Management Practices Education
• Sustainable Energy and Transportation Education
• Neighborhood Best Practices Course
• New Resident Starter Kit
• Florida Waters Stewardship Program
• Sarasota County Government-wide tracking and semi-annual public reporting of water quality improvement initiatives

Sarasota County Government provides outreach about water quality through its Stormwater Environmental Utility. It supports the Sarasota County Water Atlas, which provides access to real-time and historical water quality data, educational materials, and upcoming events and volunteer opportunities (see Chapter 9.4). The stormwater utility also manages the Neighborhood Environmental Stewardship Team (NEST), which provides water quality education and project assistance at the neighborhood level (see Chapter 7.1 and Chapter 7.2).

Approach

Continue to fund the collaborative development and delivery of water quality education and outreach using public health, quality of life, and property values as relevant framing for communication on nutrient management.

Since the launch of the Playbook in 2020, progress has been made on the following recommended initiatives:

• Messaging about best management practices (BMPs) for central sewer systems, such as not flushing disposable wipes (see Chapter 1.5). Sarasota County Government adopted a new Ordinance regulating commercial disposal of fats, oils, and grease (FOG). Additionally, the Science and Environment Council collaborated to develop traveling educational kiosks and the comprehensive Green Living Toolkit which lists unflushables and describes the ways in which poor practices can contaminate our bays and beaches with raw sewage.
• Messaging about septic system BMPs such as regular inspection and maintenance and upgrades to advanced technologies (see Chapter 2.5). The Green Living Toolkit also provides BMPs for septic systems and provides resources to get connected with licensed septic system contractors for inspections, maintenance, and upgrading.
• Messaging about the key elements of Sarasota County’s urban fertilizer ordinance (see Chapter 4.3 and Chapter 4.4) and appropriate fertilization techniques in conjunction with use of nutrient rich reclaimed irrigation water on golf courses and athletic fields (see Chapter 4.5). UF/IFAS Extension Sarasota County developed a reclaimed water calculator to help homeowners, community associations, and turfgrass professionals adjust their fertilizer use based on the amount of nutrients in reclaimed water used for irrigation.
• Messaging using local food, food waste, and composting to frame communication about nutrient management (see Chapter 4.7). The Green Living Toolkit promotes resources from Sunshine Community Compost and Community Harvest SRQ.
• Messaging on the link between gas-powered vehicle and equipment emissions and water pollution (see Chapter 5.2). New collaborative educational outreach messaging was developed on the link between gas-powered vehicle and equipment emissions and water pollution.
• Development of a comprehensive homeowner BMP guide for water quality improvement practices and projects (see Chapter 7.1). The Healthy Ponds Collaborative (HPC) developed a comprehensive HOA BMP guide for restoring and maintaining healthy stormwater ponds.

Additional educational outreach is needed on these issues:

1. Periodic large-scale community-wide environmental summit on local issues, solutions, and progress framed within culture, life-style and health lenses.
2. A water quality communication strategy in partnership with tourism, business, and media sectors.
3. Messaging on blue-green algae and red tide toxicity, including impacts on environmental and public health.

Resources

Science and Environment Council, UF/IFAS Sarasota Extension, Sarasota County Government Stormwater Environmental Utility, Sarasota County Water Atlas, CHNEP Water Atlas, SBEP, CHNEP

Status

Ongoing

Performance Measure

• Number of new educational materials produced
• Number of people reached

Experts or Leads

Science and Environment Council, UF/IFAS Sarasota Extension, Sarasota County Stormwater Environmental Utility, SBEP, CHNEP

Cost Estimate

$100,000-$1,000,000

Related Activities

Chapter 1.5, Chapter 2.5, Chapter 4.4, Chapter 4.5, Chapter 4.6, Chapter 4.7, Chapter 5.2, Chapter 5.3, Chapter 7.1, Chapter 7.2, Chapter 7.3, Chapter 7.4, Chapter 9.4, Chapter 9.5