Florida is well-known for its year-round warm climate and beautiful, sandy beaches. While beach tourism drives the state’s economy, people who visit and live in the Sunshine State are losing the long-standing recreational opportunities that they cherish. Ongoing water pollution and harmful algal blooms, including red tides and toxic blue-green algae, are putting public health at risk and causing massive die-offs of fish, marine life and sea turtles. Red tides were particularly devastating in 2017 and 2018, as coastal communities along the Gulf Coast of Florida suffered through an unusually persistent and toxic red tide that lasted for more than a year. Bloom conditions reached as far as the Atlantic Coast late last summer, which caused beach closures and fish mortalities. Public health was also affected as far as a mile inland through the release of airborne toxins from the blooms. The problems associated with blue-green algae blooms, or Cyanobacteria, received massive media attention during the summer of 2016. Florida’s governor declared a state of emergency and beaches in several East Coast counties were closed over the July 4th holiday weekend. This earned the affected stretch of coast the dubious nickname of ‘Guacamole Coast.’ While much of the state has experienced a temporary reprieve from the impacts of red tides and bluegreen algae blooms this winter, both are likely to return as temperatures rise this spring. In 2018, the Palm Beach County Chapter started monitoring two new sites, including Ocean Reef Park on Singer Island, and Phil Foster Park, a beach on the intercoastal waterway that is heavily used by snorkelers and families with young children. The chapter also expanded their BWTF program by setting up a new lab at Forest Hill High School. Environmental Academy students at this school are now testing three new beaches in Central and Southern Palm Beach County. In addition to sharing their weekly water quality results with members, the Palm Beach County Chapter is helping to inform the local community whenever harmful algal bloom conditions affect safe aquatic recreation or beachgoing in their area. The chapter’s efforts have inspired other chapters in Florida, including the Broward County and Miami chapters, to start water testing programs as well. The Palm Beach County Chapter’s work has also led to a statewide campaign to restore state funding for the Florida Healthy Beaches program to improve public health protection at the beach. Visit the BWTF website to see where Surfrider is testing in Florida and visit the Florida Healthy Beaches Program website to view all state-generated water quality data and beach advisories. The Palm Beach County Chapter’s Ocean Friendly Gardens program also complements efforts made by Surfrider activists to advocate for federal, state and local solutions to harmful algal blooms in Florida. Ocean Friendly Gardens are maintained without the use of chemical fertilizers, which contribute to high nutrient conditions and cause algae to bloom in many waterways. Ocean Friendly Gardens instead rely on native plants and healthy soil that is built naturally with compost and mulch, to soak up rain and reduce polluted runoff. This past year, the chapter installed a native garden that captures rain from the roof of the MacArthur State Park ranger station. This provides a great outreach tool for more than 60,000 people that visit the park each year. Additionally, Surfrider activists across the state will be supporting state and local legislation this year to reduce the amount of fertilizers that pollute Florida’s waterways. They will also be promoting actions that anyone can take to make their own yards more Ocean Friendly. If there is a silver lining to the devastation that toxic algae blooms have brought to Florida this past year, it may be that Floridians and those elected to public office are hopefully ready to make positive changes to protect clean water for this and future generations.

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California has finally regulated a carcinogen, 1,2,3-trichloropropane, that has been contaminating groundwater for decades.

A video by Scott Cannon DEP consent order proving methane migration: http://files.dep.state.pa.us/OilGas/BOGM/BOGMPortalFiles/OilGasReports/Determination_Letters/EAST/CO272604_Redacted.pdf http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL062539BFB8A2B2D4&feature=view_all Please read this before saying methane migration doesn't exist. It's a proven fact: http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/sunday-times-review-of-dep-drilling-records-reveals-water-damage-murky-testing-methods-1.1491547 The Promised Land in real life. Matt Damon John Krasinski People can light their taps on fire because of gas drilling. This is one of those cases. In fact, one of the companies that produced Truthland, Chesapeake Energy, was responsible for this mess. A snippet from the Marcellus Shale Reality Tour video Sherry Vargson gave the group a tour of her farm in Granville Township, where Chesapeake Energy has drilled one well and installed compressor and metering stations and a gathering pipeline. She said her water became contaminated with methane after maintenance activities at the site in June 2010, and lit water from her tap alight for a trip attendees and the media. The little bus wound its way over green mountains, alongside undeveloped stretches of the meandering Susquehanna River and through some of Pennsylvania's most pristine wilderness. The man inside with the microphone, the Gas Drilling Awareness Coalition's Scott Cannon, said there's trouble in paradise as he pointed out the changes Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling has brought to Pennsylvania's Northern Tier. Here was a drilling rig, there a water withdrawal site and every so often yet another pipeline was laid out in preparation for burial. The sights were part of the coalition's "Marcellus Shale Reality Tour," held Sunday for area legislators, municipal representatives and candidates for political office. "We still have to deal with pipelines, compressor stations; they wanted to put a frack water treatment facility in Hanover Township -- that was an hour away from the nearest drill site," Cannon said. About 15 people attended the tour, including candidate for U.S. representative Bill Vinsko, Wilkes-Barre Administrative Coordinator Drew McLaughlin and Luzerne County Council candidates Kathleen Dobash, Salvatore Licata, Eileen Sorokas and Michelle Bednar. "It's all about information," Sorokas said. "You can't beat going firsthand and seeing it. I've heard so many things about it; I want to clarify it in my mind." "It's important to learn about all sides of this important issue," said Vinsko, a Democrat who plans to a 2012 challenge to Republican Lou Barletta in Pennsylvania's 11th Congressional District. "In order to make informed decisions, I wanted to hear from the landowners on both sides of the issue. I also plan to meet with the gas companies to get all sides of the story, but this is an important first step." At least one trip participant had already made up his mind about the issue. Throop Borough Council President Tommy Lukasewicz said he has been fighting against the efforts of Keystone Sanitary Landfill to increase its daily intake by 2,500 tons, which would allow it to accept more solid waste from the gas drilling industry. "I agree more than anyone here probably that this is the worst thing that could happen to Northeastern Pennsylvania," he said, adding that he believes gas drilling could reverse the progress the area has made in erasing the scars left 50 years ago by coal mining. Lukasewicz, who attended Mansfield University and often drove through Bradford County to get there, said he "wanted to see firsthand what an area (he) had known about looks like now." Hearing on Fracking Wastewater Well in Sioux County, NE (clip)

Polluting oil companies like Chevron are selling their dirty oil wastewater to irrigation districts in California, and that water is used to grow food that is sold in grocery stores across the country! Water samples have determined that the wastewater contains dangerous chemicals, some that are linked to cancer. This is a threat to our health, the health of farm workers who grow our food, and our environment, yet Governor Jerry Brown and other legislators have FAILED to take action on this pressing issue. There's one solution: we need to #JustBanIt! Take Action at foodandwaterwatch.org/JustBanIt today.

The wonderful state of Florida has pumped so much groundwater from underground aquifers that its foundation is literally sinking. The result: A rash of sinkholes across the state's gut has been sucking homes, humans, and housepets into the Earth. Emerson dons his speedo, flip-flops, and "best Florida shirt ever" to sniff out a sinkhole and find out why Floridians keep pumping their state dry. Watch parts 1 and 3 here: New York: http://bit.ly/Water-Crisis-1 California: http://bit.ly/Water-Crisis-3 Part 3/3 coming tomorrow. Subscribe now: http://bit.ly/Subscribe-to-VICE Check out more VICE documentaries: http://bit.ly/VICE-Documentaries Check out our full video catalog: http://www.youtube.com/user/vice/videos Videos, daily editorial and more: http://vice.com Like VICE on Facebook: http://fb.com/vice Follow VICE on Twitter: http://twitter.com/vice Read our tumblr: http://vicemag.tumblr.com

Every time it rains in New York City, billions of gallons of raw sewage are piped directly into the Hudson River. Superstorms like Hurricane Sandy only magnify the issue by flooding New York's waterways with even more human feces. It's a direct effect of the way New York City's wastewater pipes were built, and it's the same basic infrastructure problem facing over 40 million people in 700 American cities. In the first part of a three-part series on freshwater in America, Emerson Rosenthal takes a dip in the grand Hudson River to find out just how far we've swum up shit's creek. Watch parts 2 and 3 here: Florida: http://bit.ly/Water-Crisis-2 California: http://bit.ly/Water-Crisis-3 Check out more VICE documentaries: http://bit.ly/VICE-Documentaries Subscribe now: http://bit.ly/Subscribe-to-VICE Check out our full video catalog: http://www.youtube.com/user/vice/videos Videos, daily editorial and more: http://vice.com Like VICE on Facebook: http://fb.com/vice Follow VICE on Twitter: http://twitter.com/vice Read our tumblr: http://vicemag.tumblr.com

In the Golden State of California, freshwater in the San Joaquin Valley is on the brink of disappearance. Governor Jerry Brown's proposal for a peripheral canal is reigniting centuries-old battles over water rights, and environmentalists, citizens, and billionaires alike are all vying for control over California's water supply. In the final episode of a three part series, Emerson Rosenthal gets his inner Erin Brockovich on as he investigates a water war that could potentially destroy access to California's drinking water for millions. Welcome to California, ground zero of America's water crisis. Watch parts 1 and 2 here: New York: http://bit.ly/Water-Crisis-1 Florida: http://bit.ly/Water-Crisis-2 Check out more VICE documentaries: http://bit.ly/VICE-Documentaries Check out our full video catalog: http://www.youtube.com/user/vice/videos Videos, daily editorial and more: http://vice.com Like VICE on Facebook: http://fb.com/vice Follow VICE on Twitter: http://twitter.com/vice Read our tumblr: http://vicemag.tumblr.com