Not all heroes wear capes

Luis Otero is an Environmental Resources Project Supervisor with the Department of Regulatory and Economic Resources in the Division of Environmental Resources Management (DERM). He sees the world as a place where different important priorities must be balanced. His job allows him to contribute in some way to the protection and management of the County’s natural resources for the benefit and enjoyment of our residents.

Born in Colombia, Otero came to the United States as a fifteen-year-old. Initially, he thought he would be in the medical field like several family members. A six-month backpacking trip through South America changed the course of his studies. As he wandered through Colombia and down to Chile and Argentina, he decided to apply his skills to environmental science.

He completed his education at FIU in 1993 and Joined DERM in December of that year. Otero enjoys the challenge of using multiple sets of data, sometimes seemingly unrelated, to gain a better understanding of the issues affecting the County’s water resources and identify alternative actions that can be taken to protect those resources.

"It’s satisfying to take information and make sense of it in ways that communicate soundly to decision-makers," Otero explained. "There are complex interactions between our groundwater and surface water resources and the two are highly connected and dependent on each other. Therefore, protecting these resources is critical to our ecosystem and to preserve and maintain our way of life."

In 2009, Otero was part of a multiagency team that included the South Florida Water Management District and the County (DERM & WASD) in conjunction with Florida Power and Light (FPL) to develop an environmental monitoring plan that allows the agencies and FPL to monitor the environmental impacts of the Turkey Point facility on adjacent surface water, groundwater and ecological resources and implement solutions to address those problems. The monitoring plan includes collection of water samples that are analyzed for multiple parameters, as well as deployed field monitoring equipment that collects water salinity, water temperature and level data at multiple stations on an hourly basis 365 days a year.  The data generated by the plan is of immense value to the county’s decision-makers and FPL in balancing the protection of the county’s natural resources with the need to produce electricity.

"It is so important to educate the public to heighten awareness and develop responsible citizens that understand how their actions can have long-term consequences," he added. "As our community continues to grow, each one of us is going to have to step up to keep our needs in check."

"I'm grateful to participate and contribute in some way as a member of the team here at DERM. I’m also invested in our community and want to make sure that our water supply is protected and will be around to benefit future generations."

Otero has been married for over 27 years and has a grown son and daughter. Not surprisingly, he enjoys the outdoors and bikes, swims and kayaks to decompress and keep his work-life balanced, too.