Florida has been struck by a smelly ecological challenge. Thick and nasty layers of toxic blue-green algae covered the sand of Jensen Beach. This made the Martin County officials close the beach in order to prevent public health hazard.
The bloom stretches for miles. It reaches the Martin County shoreline. The nasty mass coats the waters of the Indian River Lagoon, as well as the St. Lucie River. In Lake
Okeechobee its toxicity is 200 times bigger than what the World Health Organization considers
to be a human health hazard. Rick Scott – Governor of Florida declared a state of emergency.
The main ecological disaster is in Lake Okeechobee where, in May, the algae bloom started. It is still not known what causes an algae bloom. But when this happens, the population of some microscopic creatures just explodes into millions, explained Gil McRae, the director of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute. Heat with the combination of nutrient pollution helps this process.
Lake Okeechobee is a major repository for nutrient-polluted waters. They come from suburbs and farms and contain nutrients septic,
fertilizer and manure waste. For this lake, state officials have obviously not kept the required pollution limits which were created in 2001, states Mark Perry - the executive director of the Florida Oceanographic Society.
There is an additional problem with this lake. In order to reduce the chances of a breach during the active hurricane season, the Army Corps of Engineers takes measures. It strictly tries to keep the lake water levels in strict borders - from 12.5 feet to 15.5 feet above the sea level. If heavy rains hit, the Army Corps starts the intensive dumping of water from the lake. This water then goes west via the Caloosahatchee River. It then reaches the waters which surround Fort Myers and Sanibel. It also takes a direction east via St. Lucie River. Then, these waters reach the waters around Stuart.
Algae blooms happen as a result. According to Perry, in 2005 when there was a bloom with similar size and intensity, it took months the estuaries to recover.
When a 33-square-mile algae bloom appeared in the lake in the middle of May, those pulses of fresh water transferred the toxic algae to the coastal area. At first, the bloom was spotted on May 13. Then, in just
few days, it was developing in the St. Lucie estuary.
Usually, the blue-green algae in fresh water
is destroyed by the encountering with salt water. However, as Perry explains, the coming waters from the lake, approximately billion gallons every day, ensure enough fresh water for the intensive development of the algae bloom.
According to local residents, the bloom had its tipping point about 2 weeks ago. Then, it became so enormously big that it just could not be avoided in any way. The stench was so powerful that the workers at Central Marine in Stuart had to wear respirators
ij order to be able to breathe.