Rain Brings Relief to Water Management Districts
While drought conditions persist, both the St. Johns River and Suwannee River Water Management Districts reported receiving above-average rainfall in May. Most of Florida is in the severe or moderate draught category according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. The Floridan Aquifer continues to decline in some areas, and the potentiometric surface remains below normal. Other than Silver Springs, which continues to flow at the low range, springs in the St. Johns District tracked in the normal range. Each District publishes monthly Hydrologic Conditions Reports on its website.
OUC Stanton Energy Plant Plans Shut Down by the Fed to Preserve Coal Power for Data Centers
The Orlando Utilities Commission (OUC) is not being permitted to place coal fired Stanton Energy Center Unit 1 into extended cold shutdown this month as planned. In accordance with the administration’s desire to preserve coal fired power plant generation, on June 4, 2026, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) issued an emergency order (No. 202-26-26) directing the utility to ensure that Unit 1 at the Stanton Energy Center in Orlando remains available to operate.
DOE cited the non-profit North American Electric Reliability Corporation’s (NERC) 2025 Long-Term Reliability Assessment, which notes an increase in data center energy needs, a projection of hotter summer temperatures, the need for reliable energy sources and consumer demand as reasons to keep the plant in place. NERC is a non-profit organization created in 1968 by the utility industry to promote reliability and adequacy of bulk power transmission.
University of South Florida Ocean Monitoring on Track Despite Fire
University of South Florida marine researchers are back in business after suffering the loss of their 80,000-square-foot Marine Science Laboratory to fire in May. More than 100 staff members were displaced and research activities were significantly disrupted with hurricane season less than a month away.
The Ocean Circulation Lab that maintains USF’s buoy program was among the destroyed facilities. Data collected by the program’s sensors is used to forecast storm surge, rapid intensification, and other key hazards associated with tropical storms.
To preserve their mission, staff secured a vessel and took to the field to collect data used to inform detailed scientific models that forecast the movement of water along Florida’s west coast and in Tampa Bay. The resulting models are used to track hurricane data, predict red tides and locate plumes of marine pollution. Modeling data and field instruments are shared with the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration to assist local governments and emergency agencies prepare and communicate risks to the public.
UCF Study Indicates Subsidence and Sea Levels Rise Happen More Quickly Than Thought
Vertical land motion affects sea level locally. A research team that includes University of Central Florida Associate Professor Thomas Wahl found that sinking land and rising sea levels are occurring more rapidly than previously considered, increasing the risk of flooding.
In a recently published study, Wahl and his collaborators found the rate of vertical land motion is nonlinear in many coastal communities, particularly in Louisiana and along the Mississippi Delta. As the land sinks, relative sea level rises, increasing the risk of coastal flooding from high tides and storm surge.
The study challenges current projections of future sea-level change based on ground motion behaving linearly over time. The team, led by Associate Professor Sönke Dangendorf of Tulane University, used observational data from tide gauges to reconstruct vertical land motion back to the early 20th century.
“Our results reveal that human activities such as groundwater extraction and natural phenomena such as earthquakes have led to periods of rapid sinking or rising of coastal land,” Dagendorf says. “This has largely increased the rates of sea level rise relative to the land, particularly in cities where increasing water demand led to increased groundwater withdrawals and subsequent compaction of the ground.”
FSU Researchers Find New Value in Pelagic Sargassum
A combined team of scientists at Florida State University, Florida Atlantic University and Florida International University are demonstrating that pelagic sargassum can be converted into a functional food ingredient. The research is being supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
Mats of pelagic sargassum, a brown seaweed that floats freely across the open ocean, drift across the Atlantic Ocean annually and wash ashore along coastlines from West Africa to the Florida Gulf. Sargassum becomes a serious problem once it reaches land by smothering beaches, disrupting ecosystems and generating a rotten egg smell as it decays.
The research is timely as pelagic sargassum quantities are expected to reach unprecedented levels in 2026. Data suggests that as early as February 2026, more than 13 million metric tons of sargassum were already drifting toward Florida and the Caribbean. The researchers indicate cleanup is expensive. In Miami-Dade County for example, sargassum removal has previously cost an estimated $35 million per year.
The research team is focusing on how to extract sodium alginate, a naturally occurring compound used in foods as a thickening, gelling and stabilizing agent in products such as salad dressings, desserts and plant-based alternatives rather than removing sargassum and discarding it. Sargassum is not directly usable without processing due to its high salt content.
Florida Leads the Nation in Clean Air
The 2026 State of the Air Report from the American Lung Association indicates 21 Florida counties are among the nation’s cleanest for ozone pollution. No Florida counties were included on its list of the 25 Most Polluted Places to Live.
“Florida’s natural resources are central to our economy, our quality of life and the communities we call home,” said DEP Secretary Alexis A. Lambert. “The findings in this report reinforce the progress Florida continues to make through a long-term commitment to sound science and strong environmental standards.”
Florida communities receiving national recognition for low ozone pollution levels include Crestview, Fort Walton Beach, Destin, Gainesville, Lake City, Palm Bay, Melbourne, Titusville. and Tallahassee – Bainbridge.
Florida is the most populous state in the nation to meet or exceed all federal air quality standards for the fifth consecutive year. DEP reported that since 2000, industrial emissions in Florida have declined 78 percent, while ozone levels, the most widespread air pollutant, have fallen by nearly half over the past twenty years.
Floridians can track daily Air Quality Index (AQI) conditions in their area through the DEP’s Air Quality Web Page and at the USEPA’s airnow.gov.
Restoring the Flow: A Milestone in the Revival of the Everglades
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has completed restoring the natural flow of water across the Everglades Picayune Strand State Forest land. The project restores the flow of water to 55,000 acres that had once been drained for the development of Gulf American Corporation’s Golden Gate Estates.
The project has taken more than two decades. The last of the canals cut into the limestone bedrock for drainage has been plugged, using the soils used to create miles of elevated roadway that, once constructed, acted as dams cutting off natural flowways. With hydrology restored, lands are returning to their typically wet state.
