Eliana Bardi, Senior Planner, Water Resources Program, Alachua County Environmental Protection Department, and Stacie Greco, Water Resources Program Manager, Alachua County Environmental Protection Department

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ABSTRACT

Alachua County Environmental Protection Department (EPD) strives to translate science and data into effective policy and programs for protecting water, land, and living resources. The Water Resources Division focuses on improving water quality and reducing water use to protect our springs, rivers, lakes, and creeks. Current efforts are largely focused on influencing urban landscaping practices, since this is within the purview of local government. Water use data clearly shows that landscape irrigation drives water use in Gainesville Regional Utilities’ service area. EPD uses a suite of regulatory and educational tools to reduce outdoor use with the goal of shifting our landscaping paradigm to one that can also support healthy springs. Highly manicured landscapes can also contribute to water quality issues through fertilizer use. EPD has the most protective fertilizer ordinance in the state of Florida and has committed significant resources to a social marketing behavior change campaign to decrease fertilizer use. The ordinance and campaign have resulted in an estimated 20% reduction in annual nitrogen loading at a removal cost of $1.35 to $8.28 per pound.

BIO

Stacie Greco currently serves as the County’s Water Resources Program Manager with the Alachua County Environmental Protection Department, where she has worked to protect our water resources for the past 20 years.  She received a B.S. in Environmental Science from Warren Wilson College in Asheville, NC prior to obtaining her M.S. in Environmental Engineering Sciences from the University of Florida.  In 2010 she received a graduate certificate in Social Marketing from the University of South Florida to learn how to apply traditional marketing tools to change behaviors for protecting our water. 

Eliana Bardi is a Senior Planner in the Water Resources Program with more than 20 years of experience researching, evaluating, and implementing programs to protect natural resources. She first joined EPD in 2006, reviewing large scale development plans for protection of conservation resources. In her current role, Eliana implements regulatory and outreach water conservation programs throughout the County.  She received a B.A. in Economics and an M.S. in Environmental Engineering Sciences from the University of Florida. 

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