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George Barley Water Prize Seeks Ways to Remove Phosphorus from the Environment

Loren Parra, Director of the George Barley Water Prize
Everglades Foundation
Loren Parra, Director of the George Barley Water Prize

While scientists are still researching exactly how land-based nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus interact with, and increase the intensity of red tide, there is no doubt these nutrients are fueling the toxic blue-green algae bloom that’s still impacting Lake Okeechobee and the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee Rivers and their estuaries. Joining me now is Loren Parra, she’s Director of the George Barley Water Prize, which is administered by the Everglades Foundation.

It’s an ongoing competition between researchers, and research teams from around the world who are seeking cost-effective ways to remove phosphorus from natural bodies of water. Teams spent several cold months in Toronto earlier this year testing their techniques, and soon four finalists will be heading to Lake Jesup northeast of Orlando for the next phase of testing.

Copyright 2018 WGCU

Julie Glenn is the host of Gulf Coast Live. She has been working in southwest Florida as a freelance writer since 2007, most recently as a regular columnist for the Naples Daily News. She began her broadcasting career in 1993 as a reporter/anchor/producer for a local CBS affiliate in Quincy, Illinois. After also working for the NBC affiliate, she decided to move to Parma, Italy where she earned her Master’s degree in communication from the University of Gastronomic Sciences. Her undergraduate degree in Mass Communication is from the University of Missouri at Kansas City.
Mike Kiniry is producer of Gulf Coast Live, and co-creator and host of the WGCU podcast Three Song Stories: Biography Through Music. He first joined the WGCU team in the summer of 2003 as an intern while studying Communication at Florida Gulf Coast University.