Hernando County commissioners will hear an ordinance Tuesday that would weaken the summer regulations.
This comes after a University of Florida presentation that showed the best time to fertilize turf grass is in the warm growing season.
But that's the same time summer rains wash the nitrogen and phosphorus into waterways. Algae growth is turning Florida's springs green and killing seagrass that manatees and other marine life depend on.
Michael McGrath with the Florida Sierra Club described how algae growth creates long-term impacts beyond the environment.
“You're not feeding your grass, you're feeding the algae within our waterways, which only fuels algae blooms, causes fish kills, sea grass die-offs, threatens tourism and also property values and all the waterfront businesses that a lot of these coastal communities depend on,” he said.
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"Healthy lawns and clean water aren't mutually exclusive when you have things like slow-release fertilizers for spring and fall," McGrath said. "And it's been proven in over 18 counties and 100 municipalities across the entire state, so there's no, there's no reason to roll this back."
He said more than 40 Hernando businesses and organizations signed a letter urging the county to keep the restrictions.
In 2023, Hernando County passed one of the strictest summer fertilizer bans in the state. County Commissioners voted to allow fertilizer to be applied only half the year.
Those changes included:
- Expanding the seasonal restrictions to prohibit the use of urban turf fertilizers containing nitrogen from December 15 to March 15 and from June 1 to September 30.
- Removing the exemption for commercial applicators.
- Increasing the distance that fertilizers can be used adjacent to wetlands and surface waters to 25 feet.
This was intended to reduce the amount of nutrients that flow into areas such as the county's Gulf Coast shore and rivers such as the Weeki Wachee, which have seen algae blooms caused by too many nutrients.
Eighteen Florida counties — including Hernando, Hillsborough, Pinellas, Manatee and Sarasota — have similar bans. Hundreds of cities have them.
Gov. Ron DeSantis has proposed $50 million in grants this upcoming fiscal year for springs protection. That includes about $5 million to convert septic tanks to sewers around Weeki Wachee Springs.
