Rooney, Diaz-Balart vow to fight to solve Florida water woes

When it comes to solving Florida's water woes there's still a lot of work to do, but U.S. Reps. Francis Rooney and Mario Diaz-Balart say they aren't about to give up the fight.

"Just know we're not going to rest," said Rep. Diaz-Balart, R-Miami, to hundreds of Realtors gathered Tuesday at an event organized by a new Water Quality Advisory Task Force created by the Naples Area Board of Realtors.

Local Realtors aren't concerned only about the environmental effects of algae blooms, but also the effects they're having on the local economy. Some agents have seen sales and rental contracts canceled or put on hold, especially in Lee County, where blue-green algae tied to Lake Okeechobee discharges has invaded the Caloosahatchee River and its canals.

Now that more than $514 million in federal funding has been secured to speed up the repairs to the Herbert Hoover Dike that surrounds Lake Okeechobee, the Florida delegation can move on to other important water-related issues, such as Everglades restoration, Diaz-Balart said. 

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The repairs to the dike should be completed by 2021.

"Have we got a lot of things done? Yes. Do we have a lot more to do? Heck yes," he said. 

Rep. Rooney, R-Naples, agreed. 

He tipped his hat to former Rep. Curt Clawson, R-Bonita Springs, who "got the ball rolling" on water issues by getting all of the Florida leadership on the same page. 

"Everybody is on message," Rooney said. "When you're on message like that, you can accomplish a lot." 

When it comes to solving the crisis, "we all have to be willing to push the envelope," Diaz-Balart said, even if an idea is controversial, such as moving water from Lake Okeechobee into injection wells deep underground.

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"What we can't do is status quo," he said. "That is what is not acceptable." 

Diaz-Balart talked about how Rooney has made sure that Southwest Florida's issues are top of mind in Washington, D.C., by flying the country's leaders down here for tours so they can see the challenges for themselves. The Everglades are hard to understand on a piece of paper or just in photos, Diaz-Balart pointed out. 

Rooney described Diaz-Balart as "the closer" who ensures that projects, such as Everglades restoration, get funded. 

But funds are getting harder to secure each year, especially for the Everglades, because it has already received so much money over the years. 

"We have to fight for those funds. But we have a good team," Diaz-Balart said. 

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Rooney and Diaz-Balart said the state's leadership was doing a good job on water issues. Over the last six years, the Florida Legislature has allocated nearly $1.1 billion for Everglades restoration projects. More recently, it approved $100 million to rehabilitate the Herbert Hoover Dike and $200 million to adjust the water flow through the Kissimmee River, which will help restore wetlands.

Solving the water issues is a balancing act that shouldn't involve pointing fingers, Diaz-Balart said.

"What's important out there is to show a unified front in D.C.," he said. "It is very, very helpful." 

Rooney agreed.

"You'll catch more with honey than with vinegar," he said.

Realtors asked the congressmen several questions, including whether it was safe to swim in the Gulf of Mexico. Rooney said he wasn't a scientist so he didn't feel qualified to give an answer. Likewise, Diaz-Balart said it was difficult for him to answer but that he hoped one day he could let the world know the water was safe without any concerns about toxins.

"This is a system-wide issue," he said. "This is something that has to be addressed as a system." 

Adam Vellano, a Naples-area Realtor and a director of the new Water Quality Advisory Task Force, said the event was meant to share information about the water issues so agents can be better informed for their clients, who are asking a lot more questions about fish kills and water safety these days. 

"We're still Florida," he said. "We love it. It's still our place. It's our home. Everyone else has their own problems. We can deal with it."