- [Announcer] This is a production of WEDU PBS, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota.

- "Florida This Week" is made possible in part by support from the "Tampa Bay Times".

(dramatic music crescendos) - [Rob] Coming up next, another Democrat enters the race for governor, a lawsuit is filed over toxic working conditions at the Tampa Lead Smelting Plant, and as summer nears, we'll take a look at one of the best ways to escape the heat.

The Florida's Springs, and why they are in danger.

All this and more right now on "Florida This Week".

(dramatic music crescendos) Welcome back.

Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a new $101.5 billion budget this week after vetoing some spending, including 1 billion in federal money for an emergency response fund that he said "Had strings attached that made it unusable".

He also vetoed $158 million in local projects.

Even with the vetoes, the budget is 9 billion more than last year.

Budget year starts July 1st.

The budget raises the minimum wage for government workers to $13 an hour.

Also state attorneys, public defenders and district court judges will get a 10% pay raise.

And first responders, teachers and early learning instructors will get thousand-dollar bonuses.

Schools will also receive 550 million to raise the minimum teachers' salaries.

A progressive group though, Florida Watch, said the governor should have spent more money on school staff and school repairs and getting students out of those portables.

Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried entered the race for the Democratic nomination for governor this week when she issued this video.

- I'm Nikki Fried, an underestimated Floridian like you, and I'm asking you to break the system by electing me the next governor of the State of Florida.

- Fried came under fire from Republicans for failing to report more than $350,000 in earnings as a lobbyist before being elected Agriculture Commissioner.

She updated her financial disclosure forms shortly before announcing her run for governor.

Her campaign said it was a filing error.

Republican say she has a lot of explaining to do.

And more Floridians are facing charges over the January 6th Capitol Riot.

A Tampa man became one of the first people to plead guilty in connection with the attempt to take over the Capitol.

And a Spring Hill music teacher was arrested for her participation in the insurrection.

A Sarasota man was arrested last weekend in connection to the violence and an Englewood man who's already in custody, is now facing additional charges including civil disorder for the Capitol assault.

- Well, first up we'll take a look at how the 2022 governor's race is shaping up now that Agriculture Commissioner Nicki Fried has declared her candidacy, we're joined by Dr. Susan MacManus, USF Distinguished Professor Emerita and an ABC Action News Political Analyst.

And Susan, it's so nice to have you on the set.

Welcome back.

- Oh, its like oh, home.

(Rob laughs) - It's like home - Thank goodness.

- Now if we could just get the rest of the crew with us.

So, the governor's race is shaping up.

We're looking at this Democratic primary.

Nikki Fried has jumped in.

Do you think it's gonna be Charlie Crist vs. Nikki Fried or what are the chances of more people get in to the Democratic primary?

- I believe you'll see more people get in but right now it's a two-person race, it's already captured the attention of the nation, frankly, because Florida being Florida.

It's a possibility that Annette Taddeo, who was the State Senator from East Florida and a Colombian might be entering.

She's concerned that Democrats haven't done that well with the Latino vote, which is becoming more critical as the Latino vote becomes a larger share of the electorate.

There's also some talk that you might see entry of an African-American.

Some Democrats are worried that having an all-white race or no black in the race might be detrimental to turn out for.

All the black population in the general election.

But right now, all the attention is on Nikki Fried and Charlie Crist.

- So with Crist and Fried and then possibly Taddeo in the race, tell me about the importance of the women's vote.

How important is the women's vote in Florida?

And if you divide the women's vote, potentially, between Taddeo and Fried, what does that do to the other people in the race?

- It is true that among registered Democrats in Florida, 20% more Democrats are women than men.

So the women's vote is very important but it doesn't always fall exactly.

It's not the major voting cue for many women.

There's that presumption that it is.

But what you're likely to see in this race coming up between Crist and Nikki Fried is generational politics through and through.

For Nikki Fried to prevail against Crist or Taddeo, she has to really mobilize the gen Z-ers and the millennials.

They are a majority of them are non-white, there's an interface between age and race and ethnicity.

But if you think back to 2018, in the general election Gillum came within a half a percentage point of best thing to DeSantis.

But you have to win the primary first.

And so the Crist Fried, let's just talk about those two right away.

Are likely to yield a very generational split with Crist appealing to the older Democrats and Fried to the younger ones.

Annette Taddeo though, and you do have the possibility of the women's vote being split because of different motivations for people choosing which might be an asset to Charlie Crist.

But at this point we're still just talking about a two person-race.

- Yeah, I've always wondered whether or not seniors are super voters.

As compared to millennials and gen X-ers, that the Democrats and the Republicans really haven't figured out a way to fire up those people that are under 50, as much as people over 50 are fired up about, especially a midterm election.

- All right.

- If Charlie Crist relies on the older voters, can Annette Taddeo and can Nikki Fried energize younger voters?

- Well, they could, because look at what Gillum did.

Of course that was a five-person race.

And so he knew going in as did all of them, if they could get 30% of the Democratic vote, they would win the Democratic nomination.

So there'll be some of that calculation but the bottom line is Fried's whole approach.

She's definitely a social media candidate.

She, her whole technique of campaigning is aimed more at the younger generations.

Charlie Crist is following a more traditional.

Even in the way that they announced their candidacies, Crist using a more traditional press conference and a setting and so forth and Fried relying on a video with the clever slogan, #Somethingnew.

And that, of course, immediately you think the younger demographic would pay more attention to first of all, the means that she released her candidacy, the video, and secondly, the #Somethingnew not status quo because younger generations in this state, like elsewhere, are always looking for something new.

And politics, as usual, is not something that drives them to go vote.

- Susan, I only have 10 seconds.

I would hate to put you on the spot but is Florida becoming more red?

In one word, is Florida becoming more Republican, do you think?

- No, it has to do with Democrats being able to mobilize the voters that they do have registered as Democrat.

- Well, Susan MacManus, thanks a lot.

- You're welcome - Great to see you, in person.

- Hey, thank you.

(Rob laughs) (dramatic music playing) - Former State Representative, Sean Shaw and his group People Over Profits are starting a major effort to increase access to voting in Florida.

They hope to get three separate State Constitutional Amendments passed in 2022.

He's also part of the Plaintiff's legal team which filed a lawsuit this week against the owners of that Tampa Lead Smelting Plant.

The lawsuit claims dust from the plant made a worker and his son sick.

And joining us now is Sean Shaw.

Sean, welcome back to Florida this week.

- I'm happy to be here, Rob, thanks for having me.

- Tell us about the lawsuit, and tell us about this man and his son who filed the lawsuit.

- It's heartbreaking and this is just one of many lawsuits that we filed on behalf of Gopher employees and their families.

But the "Tampa Bay Times" did a riveting exposé on the conditions inside the plant.

And after that, we certainly started becoming aware of former employees and their elevated lead levels in their blood.

And it's one thing, Rob, the really just heartbreaking part of this, it's one thing as you look at the screen here.

It's one thing to be an employee and to know that you are working in a lead smelting plant and maybe you're around a lot of lead dust and you wish the ventilation was better and you wish your equipment worked better.

But to track that lead dust unknowingly back to your home and to your family members and to your children unknowingly, that's really the sad part.

If you were in our view at the press conference we had one of the children there lose experiencing as his mother said out in the press conference.

A lot of health problems related to lead.

And so we are going to make sure that we hold Gopher accountable and make sure that the conditions are outlined in that "Tampa Bay Times" piece that they're held to account for that.

- Well, you're alleging that the seven-year-old has seizures as a result of his dad bringing home the dust from the lead smelting plant.

That's a terrible story but let me read what the Gopher CEO, Brian Leen posted on the company website, defending the company's record.

He says "We've achieved a 15-year sustained decline in the average lead level in employees, which is less than half of various regulatorial and industrial standards.

And one of the most important measures of employee safety.

since 2012," he says, " Air quality around Gopher has improved by 89%."

And he says, "The company is taking environmental health and safety very seriously."

What would you say to him?

- I'm not worried.

Our lawsuit doesn't have anything to do with the air quality outside the plant.

Our lawsuit has to do with the circumstances inside the plant.

And number two, I would just say, and not to be too short but the blood lead levels of the employees that we have that we've been interacting with are simply too high.

If you go from very high to high, of course you can say it's lowered, but it's still too high.

The blood levels that we have been privy to are still way way too high and above safe levels.

- Are you expecting more employees to file a lawsuit - Yes.

- against the company?

- Okay.

- We are, we are.

- All right, so let me ask you about a second issue that you're involved in.

You told the "Tampa Bay Times" last week that you want to put three possible amendments on the ballot next year to increase voter turnout.

One, you wanna automatically register any Floridian who's renewing or updating their driver's license.

And you want to allow Floridians to register to vote on election day or during early voting.

And three, you wanna undo the provision passed by the Republican led Florida legislature in 2019, that requires ex-felons to first pay off outstanding court fines, fees and restitution before they can register to vote.

You told the newspaper that this effort might cost $20 million.

And let me ask you first, where do you expect to get that kinda money?

- That's a lot of money, Rob.

You're right, but for context, the amount of money that comes into Florida every political season, whether it is for a governor's race or a US Senate race, or during the Presidential election, I wouldn't say $20 million is a drop in the bucket.

But what I would say is that around the country there is an appetite for things that make it easier for people to vote for a pushback against some of the voter-suppression bills that we've seen around the country.

There is a national appetite for these sorts of things.

So we do think we're gonna be able to get there really focusing on national donors as well as to a lesser extent, our Florida donors but this is democracy and if you're gonna spend all of this money every cycle in Florida, maybe it would be wise for you to help get some of these constitutional amendments passed so that we can expand who's able to vote and how many people can register and all those good things.

- And the State Legislature has made it harder to collect the signatures to even get these issues on the ballot.

You got to get about 900,000 signatures.

Under the new rules, do you expect to be able to do that?

- Yeah, I mean, we wouldn't be undertaking this.

It's not just myself, it's the ACLU.

It is the Florida Alliance.

This is a lot of coalition partners we have but this is gonna be a paid signature and volunteer signature and grassroots.

This is gonna be all that.

And we just kicked it off early this week.

There's gonna be a lot of hard work, it's very ambitious but as I've been saying, democracy is worth it.

And this is kinda what I'm gonna spend my time on this cycle cause I believe in it that much.

- Sean, we just have five seconds.

I ask you this every time you're on, Do you have any plans to run for statewide office?

- Not this cycle.

- All right - No Rob.

- Sean Shaw, thanks a lot.

- Thank you.

(dramatic music playing) - Well, a favorite thing for many people to do in Florida's hot summer months is to take a trip down some of Florida Springs.

They're among Florida's greatest natural wonders and not to be missed.

And if you haven't kayaked, canoed, swum, or tubed down these refreshing clear waters, you ought to try it.

But as our producer, James Borchuck found, these beautiful resources are endangered and several groups are trying to protect them for future generations.

- [Rob] Water is our most precious resource.

And in some places around the state that crystal clear pure water flows out of the ground from cave-like Springs at a constant temperature.

72 degrees year round.

(group chattering) (water gushing) - Millions of years of rainfall has filled our aquifer with fresh water.

(water whooshing gently) Gilchrist Blue is my favorite because that's the spring that I grew up going to.

(water bubbling) - [Rob] As swimmers enjoy Gilchrist, Zoey Hendrickson and other members of the Florida Springs Institute study changes in the vegetation, both on the land and under the water.

(water dripping) - We provide the public with information about the Springs, about the data we collect ourselves and from the state And answer any questions that they might have about Springs' health, or ecology.

And the Springs' health is what worries Robert Knight of the Florida Springs Institute.

- The Springs are important as a bellwether of what's coming.

So if the Springs aren't healthy, either due to reduced flow or increased pollution, that means our drinking water is in trouble.

(soft music playing) - [Rob] Reduced flow comes from pumping too much water from the underground aquifer which runs under most of Florida.

A 2015 Federal Government report said the total amount of water withdrawn in Florida was 15.3 billion gallons a day.

And for the first time ever that year, household consumption was greater than agricultural use.

- The biggest problem is the springs have lost about 1/3 of their flow as of 2010.

That is a lot.

If human lost a third of their water, they'd be dead.

- [Rob] Nitrates from fertilizer and septic tanks are another problem harming the crystal clear springs.

- It stimulates growth of algae.

So it reduces the productivity of the springs.

(fast-paced cheerful music playing) - It hasn't always been this way before visitors flocked to Disney World, they went to the springs.

There are more than a thousand springs in Florida, the largest collection of freshwater springs on the planet.

- [Narrator] Nearly 2 million tourists a year visit Silver Springs to observe the Panorama of submerge beauty through the crystal clear water.

(group chattering) - [Rob] An economic impact study from 2002 showed that visitors spent an estimated $67 million at the four largest Springs in Florida.

Before the pandemic, the High Springs area near Gainesville which boasts three major springs saw more than 1 million tourists a year.

10 minutes away from High Springs is Rum Island Springs County Park.

Merrillee Malwitz-Jipson raised her kids here.

(water gushing) (wind whooshing) - And everyday we used to come to the spring.

No matter what rain, shine, winter, summer, didn't matter.

(water gushing) (wind whooshing) And it's just been our greatest time of our life was at Rum Island Spring.

- [Rob] She's mad because about a mile down river, almost 1 million gallons of water a day are permitted to be pumped out of the ground for bottled water.

- So we know they're taking it directly out of the source.

So I do believe what they will see over time that these springs will definitely be impacted.

When we have minor high floods, minor ones, they'll be infiltrating these springs because those springs will not be flowing as strong as they used to be flowing.

- [Rob] In 2018, the state recognized the importance of the spring system by spending $50 million for projects designed to help protect the endangered waters.

(group chattering) But the Florida Springs Institute says that's not enough.

The nonprofit is proposing a giant new national park which would provide more protection to 50 Springs north and west of Orlando.

(water gushing) Ultimately, Robert Knight believes we must do more and pump less fresh water from the ground.

- Urban irrigation outdoors is about 1/4 of the total groundwater use in Florida.

And that's a ridiculous use of water.

A lot of the world has cisterns and they capture the water that falls on the roof of their houses and store it in a tank.

And that's what they use for their daily needs.

And we could do that in Florida, very easily.

- [Rob] Knight says that would ease public demand for fresh water, reduce over pumping, curb algae growth and help restore the springs for future generations.

(soft piano music playing) - They're really a priceless cultural heritage that we inherited from the people that lived here before us and we're not taking very good care of 'em.

- And limiting the amount of nitrates from fertilizer and septic tanks is important too in controlling potential algae blooms in the Springs.

Craig Pittman is an award-winning Florida journalist.

He writes a weekly column for the environment, on the environment for the "Florida Phoenix".

He's written six books and is co-host of the podcast "Welcome to Florida".

Craig, welcome to Florida this week.

- Thank you very much.

- So Craig of those thousand or so springs here in Florida, mainly north of Tampa and Orlando going up to Gainesville, how many do you think are endangered from either the overpumping or the algae growth or some other encroachment by development?

- Well, when I looked into this a few years ago, it seemed like, even the ones you would think were protected, ones that were inside a national forest were showing problems with toxic algae blooms, even there.

So I would say all of them are in danger.

Because things happen in the spring shed around that spring, where there's stormwater runoff with pollution and that kinda thing, that's not being controlled properly, and that stuff gets into the spring and it can fuel those algae blooms.

The other problem of course with over pumping is very widespread and one of the more startling things that I found was a Florida Geological Survey report that showed that so much pumping was occurring, that some of the Springs were starting to show an increase in salinity.

In other words, the lens of fresh water in the aquifer had shrunk enough that the brackish water underneath it was starting to come up in it, which is a very bad sign for our water supply.

- The pictures were amazing that James showed us in his video and the number of tourists and the impact on tourism is amazing.

Is Tallahassee taking the problems that the springs are facing is Tallahassee taking the problem seriously?

- Well, I think what we're seeing is what's been a common approach to environmental problems in Florida, which is they're throwing a lot of money at it and they're not paying close attention to where that money is being spent.

It's more of a bragging point for politicians to say, "Look, I spent millions of dollars trying to fix the Springs."

And instead of taking a close look at the sources of pollution and trying to control those, they're letting the people who are polluting follow a voluntary system, one called best management practices, where they really don't pay any sort of penalty if they continue to pollute.

They can say, "Oh, well, we're following Best Management Practices."

And if they're not, then they're not gonna get slapped on the end about it at all.

- What do you think about this idea of creating some sort of national park encompassing a lot of the springs between Orlando and Gainesville?

- Well, it's intriguing and I think it kinda shows the desperation of springs advocates that they feel like the state is not doing its own job.

And so we have to turn to the federal government and get federal protection as a national park for the springs.

Many of which, I should add by the way, are owned by the public, they're owned by the taxpayers.

They're part of our award-winning state park system or they're owned by County Parks Departments.

And so these are assets of the taxpayers that our government is not taking care of.

And we as taxpayers, even if you don't care about the environment, even if you don't care about your drinking water supply, you should care about the fact that they're wasting your money.

- Well, speaking of that, I mean, I think a lot of people do care about their drinking water supply.

And Robert and I pointed out that there is a connection between the water quality in the Springs and the drinking water that we get from wells all over the State of Florida, including a lot of wells here in the Tampa bay area.

Fertilizer, nitrates, are getting into the crystal clear water.

- Yeah.

And so it becomes a question of which do you care about more?

Do you care about having clean drinking water?

Or do you care about having a lush looking lawn because you've over fertilized it and that fertilizer has caused problems down the line?

If only people would embrace water conservation more than they do, I think that would make for a really big change in our environment and in the way people think about their drinking water supply.

- So Craig, before we go, is there not to miss springs that you can recommend to people to visit (both laughing) before the destruction gets any worse?

Is there one that you would suggest that people go visit?

- Well, I mean, there was a mention of Gilchrist Blue Springs.

I know that's a very popular one.

Ones that I've been on include Rainbow and Ichetucknee.

Silver Springs is a historic one as is Wakulla Springs up in Tallahassee.

So I'd say any of those are really good ones to visit before they're all gone.

And it's a difficult subject to talk about because people see them now and they think, "Oh, it looks wonderful."

But if you saw it 10 years ago or 20 years ago, you'd realize, "Wow!

This place has really deteriorated compared to what it used to be."

- Craig Pittman, thanks a lot for coming on "Florida This Week".

- Thanks for having me.

(dramatic music plays) - Thanks for joining us.

You can view this and past shows online @wedu.org or on the PBS app.

And "Florida This Week" is now available as a podcast.

You could find it on our website or wherever you download your podcasts.

Well, finally Kissingen Springs was a popular swimming spot near Bartow in the early 20th century.

However, the spring waters don't flow anymore.

A loss that inspired musician Dennis Mader to write this song.

Stay safe, take care of each other, we'll see you next week.

♪ Well let me take you back to 1950 ♪ ♪ Back to old Bartow Florida ♪ ♪ In the phosphate country ♪ ♪ And I'll take you down ♪ ♪ To the old swimmin hole ♪ ♪ Called Kissingen Spring ♪ ♪ It was lovely to behold ♪ ♪ A lot of people would come there ♪ ♪ Without a care ♪ ♪ The laughter of children ♪ ♪ Rose up in the air ♪ ♪ Y'all come on down ♪ ♪ Sing the whole family ♪ ♪ On a hot Florida day ♪ ♪ That's a good place to be ♪ ♪ And back in those days ♪ ♪ The waters ran free ♪ ♪ The way mother nature ♪ ♪ Intended it to be ♪ ♪ 20 million gallons ♪ ♪ Of water they say ♪ ♪ Rose out of that springhead ♪ ♪ In the course of each day ♪ (dramatic music playing) - [Announcer] "Florida This Week" is a production of WEDU who is solely responsible for its content.

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