- The city has been on Florida’s impaired waterways list since 2019 due to high nitrogen levels.
- Engineers found the proposed $60 million dredging project too conceptual and its methods unproven in seawater.
- Previous estimates for dredging the city’s canals were as high as $200 million.
Marco Island will not pursue a public/private partnership that would have started with a study about getting the city’s gunky canals dredged and building mangrove islands with the dug-up materials.
Engineers hired by the city examined an unsolicited proposal for a partnership with Earthwerks Land Improvement and Development Corp. and said the idea of dredging and building islands in the canals and Big Marco River was too conceptual. Marco Island city council members declined to approve an agreement at their Dec. 8 meeting.
A barrier island, Marco Island has been struggling with its man-made canals and water quality for years. The city has been on the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP)’s impaired waterways list since 2019, placed there after two years of higher than acceptable nitrogen levels in water that flows through the canal-heavy city. Too much nitrogen is bad for marine life and the plants they eat.
Some council someday will have to deal with dredging, chairman says
Marco Island commissioned two studies residents and council members reference frequently but can’t agree on which one is absolute, if either. Staff have been working their way Marco Island’s plan for improvement – called a 4e water alternative plan – that was accepted by FDEP in 2023…