Resources For Reporting Pollution: Sarasota and Manatee County Water Atlases

By Olympia Fulcher

MHI has been facilitating a community driven environmental equity project. A longstanding goal includes providing information so people know what’s going on and how they can be part of solving some of the toxicity issues we face. Over the next several issues of our newsletter, we will be doing extensive coverage of the many different resources for reporting pollution in your local area.

In this installment, we are covering the Sarasota County Water Atlas and the Manatee County Water Atlas.

These forms are essentially exactly the same, so it’s important to know in which county

the pollution incident you are reporting resides. Both of these forms also require you to

know some basic information about the pollution incident. including:

• the name of the water resource involved in the incident

• for example, the name of the specific creek, bayou, or water treatment plant

• the type of activity (it is best to be specific here)

• specific information regarding the location of the incident

In addition, it’s important to include the date and time of the occurrence if you personally

witnessed it. For this reason, it is also important to include your contact information in

the form, so that someone can contact you if they need additional details about the

incident. It may also help to read about what types of substances constitute illegal

pollution, which you can find more information about here.

However, if there is an emergency pollution situation, i.e. a spill or something that

cannot wait, you should instead call the FDEP Office of Emergency Response at :

(813) 470-5954.