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Biscayne Bay’s ecological health is in a state of emergency.
Girl Scout Sienna Labiste is setting out is to raise awareness and educate people on the health and water quality of the bay. She is convinced that the community can make big waves through small changes.
Five years ago, Sienna, along with her troop and Daniella Lavine Cava, currently Miami-Dade County mayor, mobilized a $1.7 million water project which brought potable water to her community once she found out her well water, along with other water wells, were contaminated. Sienna now is working towards the highest award given to a Girl Scout, the Gold Award, for her Biscayne Bay awareness project, Namasbay.
She created an educational website with links to useful resources and simple ways to help protect the sensitive ecosystem and the natural beauty of the bay. She also is designing and coordinating lab tours with professors Dr. Mark Chiappone and Dr. Luis Labiste from Miami Dade College Homestead Campus Water Quality Lab to educate students as well as the public on the importance of the bay, maintaining health of the bay, and how these efforts are realized.
“The reason this issue is so important to me is because I had contaminated well water and know how important it is to have clean water after experiencing it firsthand. Municipal water pipes were installed in our affected community. Now 70 homes have access to clean, potable water. It is an amazing feeling to know I actually made a difference and helped save lives,” Labiste said. “Water quality is just as important to the bay’s ecosystem and aquifer. Even small changes can make a big difference. If you take time to rethink your choices at home, in your yard, neighborhood, and on the water, protecting the environment and saving the bay is possible!”
For more information, visit: https://sites.google.com/view/namasbay/home.
Follow the project on Instagram: namasbay.fl
To see more #Miaminews from #Aventura to #Coralgables to #SouthMiami, #Pinecrest, #Palmetto Bay and #Cutler Bay and all throughout #Miamidadecounty go to:
www.communitynewspapers.com
