Statement by Commissioner Nikki Fried on World Water Day

Tallahassee, Fla. – Today, March 22, commemorates World Water Day. This year’s theme focuses on what water means to people, its true value, and how to protect this vital resource. Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried issued the following statement:

“Water is our lifeblood and should be available to everyone. Clean water in particular is a critical part of our ecosystems and infrastructure, supporting the health of our families, our communities, and our economy. It’s critical that we don’t take it for granted, giving Florida’s water away to corporate interests without a second thought, and allowing inequities in clean water access to persist. On World Water Day, I ask all Floridians to do their part to protect and conserve our water as the fundamental, life-sustaining treasure that it is for generations to come.”

Background: The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) and its Office of Agricultural Water Policy undertake efforts to strengthen Florida’s waters. This includes committing $1 million for water infrastructure restoration in Hurricane Michael-damaged areas, revising best management practices manuals for the first time in over a decade to emphasize water conservation and efficiency, increasing enrollment and implementation verification of best management practices to benefit water quality, utilizing mobile irrigation labs to identify water efficiency improvements in agriculture, funding cost-share projects on precision irrigation and agricultural water conservation, and collection of nutrient data to better inform water quality analysis by FDACS, state agencies, and water management districts.

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