Photography with a Purpose

Stormwater Management

Stormwater is a leading cause of pollution for Florida’s freshwater resources and estuaries. As it runs across yards, parking lots, roads and industrial sites, rain picks up fertilizer, litter, grass clippings, dog waste, petroleum products and other contaminants. The impacts to the state’s aquaculture and tourism industries are widespread. The Statewide Stormwater Rule (SB 7040) detailed in the Clean Waterways Act, was signed into law this June. The new rule establishes stringent minimum performance standards for stormwater treatment systems including specified nutrient reductions and a requirement that the post-development not exceed the pre-development conditions. In areas with Outstanding Florida Waters (OFW) or upstream regions, treatment requirements are increased. Specific targets for nitrogen and phosphorus reductions are set based on the condition of the receiving water body. This progress to protect Florida’s precious waterways has conservationists and fishermen alike celebrating.

Stormwater Management

Media Toolkits

Wildpath has created this digital media toolkit with stories from some of the communities most affected. Please use this toolkit and the media it contains to share this progress with your audience.

Photo by Jason Gulley/Wildpath. Tiffiny Sanders, an avid duck hunter, wades through a shallow wetland near Hawthorn, Fla.
Photo by Jason Gulley/Wildpath. Ryan Norris, one of the founders of the Indian River Oyster Company in New Smyrna Beach, Fla., flips floating bags of oysters at one of his Indian River Lagoon oyster farms. The bags are flipped frequently to expose oysters to air or submerge them in saltwater, which keeps the shellfish healthy and growing.
A diver from the Coral Restoration Foundation swims above bleached corals on Florida's Looe Key. The only reason that the entire reef does not appear to be bleached is because most of the reef was already dead from previous heat, pollution and disease stressors before this summer's heat wave.
Photo by Jason Gulley/Wildpath. Interconnected networks of smart ponds store stormwater runoff and reduce flood risks in the Babcock Ranch development in Charlotte County, Fla. Water stored in ponds is eventually routed through wetlands for additional treatment to reduce nutrient pollution before being returned to the environment.
A manatee and her calf laze in seagrasses that were replanted in Florida's Crystal River as part of an ongoing restoration project. Once devoid of vegetation, grasses replanted during the restoration project have made Crystal River a year-round home for manatees and an important nursery for baby manatees. Crystal River's successful restoration provides a road map for fixing other impaired water bodies in Florida.

Stormwater Media Toolkit

  • Water Quality
Photo by Jason Gulley/Wildpath. Ryan Norris, one of the founders of the Indian River Oyster Company in New Smyrna Beach, Fla., flips floating bags of oysters at one of his Indian River Lagoon oyster farms. The bags are flipped frequently to expose oysters to air or submerge them in saltwater, which keeps the shellfish healthy and growing.
Manatee Springs State Park, Florida
Photo by Jason Gulley/Wildpath. Laurilee Thompson, a fifth generation Floridian and co-owner of the famed Dixie Crossroads seafood restaurant in Titusville, Fla. tests the water quality in Mosquito Lagoon.
Photo by Jason Gulley/Wildpath. Nicole Richard places rock shrimp on a metal plate in the kitchen at Dixie Crossroads, an internationally renowned seafood restaurant in Titusville, Fla. Once considered a trash shrimp that was tossed overboard, the owners of Dixie Crossroads developed increasingly sophisticated techniques to peel the rock shrimp's thick, spiny shell. The meat has a flavor similar to lobster helped make the restaurant famous.
Photo by Jason Gulley/Wildpath. Ryan Norris, one of the founders of the Indian River Oyster Company in New Smyrna Beach, Fla., opens a bag of oysters at one of his Indian River Lagoon oyster farms.
Photo by Jason Gulley/Wildpath. Fresh, tannic water from the St. Lucie River pours through the Jupiter Inlet and collides with the Atlantic Ocean. Stormwater runoff from surrounding urban and agricultural areas flood the river with pollution following heavy rains.

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