As pollution plagues Florida lakes, state spends millions to manage invasive plants

Florida’s new state budget includes millions for invasive aquatic plant management, like a collective $3.2 million to reduce unwanted vegetation in Lake Tohopekaliga and East Lake Toho in Osceola County. Both those lakes, like most in Central Florida, are polluted enough to fail state and federal water quality standards, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

In fact, Florida ranks first for how many acres of its lakes are classified as “impaired” for swimming and aquatic life: 80%, according to the Environmental Integrity Project.

At Lakes Toho, mercury and high concentrations of the nutrients nitrogen and phosphorus are polluting the water. At Lake Apopka in Orange County, nitrogen and phosphorus are also a problem, along with pesticides found in fish tissue.