Citizens of Volusia County will make their voices heard during the August primary. My vote will go to Jeff Brower for Volusia County chair because he understands environmental problems we are facing and will work to fix them.

He believes in property-owner rights, but understands rezoning of properties often does not protect our wetlands, and overdevelopment comes with many problems. Our drinking water matters and is a priority to Jeff.

A lesser-known issue he has been working to find solutions for is commercial composting of biosolids. Biosolids are the sludge left over from wastewater-treatment plants. Currently, our biosolids are dumped on land in Central Florida, creating problems with toxic runoff. He found the Sustainable Generation System as a viable solution for composting biosolids that can safely be turned into a compost for public use.

Jeff understands the environmental problems caused by plastics. His plan is to add more garbage cans to the beach, pursue fines for littering, launch business-sponsored TerraCycle cigarette-butt collection, add water-refill stations, and implement an educational outreach program to raise awareness.