Proposed Florida budget includes $35 million to fight red tide

Money will go toward technology, water quality monitoring, county governments and more.

TAMPA – To help fight the red tide problem plaguing Florida’s beaches and waters, Gov. Ron DeSantis has proposed adding $35 million into the state's budget to improve water quality and offset the impacts of harmful algal blooms.

"It's uncomfortable to sort of be so cheerily optimistic and excited when you see devastation happening from a red tide or blue green algae bloom,” said Noah Valenstine, presidential fellow in water policy at Florida Gulf Coast University, and former head of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

“But we really are sort of in the renaissance of an environmental movement here in Florida," he said.