Algae less likely to slime Palm Beach or Broward
The horrifying green slime flowing out of Lake Okeechobee has steered clear of Palm Beach and Broward counties so far, and environmental officials say they’re cautiously optimistic the two counties will make it through the summer without major algae blooms.
During the algae crisis of 2016, mats of green ooze drifted as far south as Peanut and Singer islands, two of the most popular tourist destinations in Palm Beach County. Although the algae stopped there and quickly dissipated, its appearance briefly closed beaches and embarrassed Palm Beach County business leaders who had just held a news conference to declare the county algae-free.
But so far, this year, as algae-laden water has fouled waterways in Stuart and other Martin County commu-
nities, it stayed to the north. In Broward County, there have been no reports of algae blooms. In Palm Beach County, a few small concentrations have been found in canals near Lake Okeechobee and on the shores of the lake itself, but the rest of the county has remained clear.
“We just haven’t seen it throughout Palm Beach County or throughout the canal system,” said Deborah Drum, the county’s director of environmental resources management. “There have been a couple areas, a couple of hotspots out near the lake, and some of those canals that connect to the lake. We’re grateful we’ve been spared the worst of it, but with environmental issues, Mother Nature can always turn on you, and you’ll never know when you’re going to experience the worst of it.”
Broward avoided any algae blooms in the 2016 crisis, and so far there have been no reports of any this time, said Jennifer Jurado, the county’s director of environmental planning and community resilience. Although
the ocean current along the beach generally runs to the south — in the opposite direction of the Gulf Stream — it has been recently running more to the north, creating a barrier to anything that would otherwise come from that direction, she said.
“Hopefully we’ll continue to not see this as an issue to the county,” she said.
Reinaldo Diaz, president of Lake Worth Waterkeeper, which monitors the Lake Worth Lagoon and the waterways feeding into it, said reduced rainfall this year helped prevent the algae crisis from becoming as bad as that of 2016, although he noted that could change.
And he said one move that helped contain the damage as was the decision by the Army Corps of Engineers and Gov. Rick Scott to route water south to the Everglades, rather than only out to the coasts. Although this didn’t eliminate the algae-laden water reaching the coasts, he said, it reduced it.
The diversion of some lake water to the south would appear to simply shift the contamination from the coasts to the Everglades, with contaminated
water flowing through canals to the ocean through Broward and Palm Beach counties. But state officials say that wasn’t the intent and that’s not what happened.
When the water flowed south, it reached treatment marshes just south of the lake, where plants had been established to clear the water of phosphorus and other nutrients that could alter the natural chemistry of the Everglades. These dense marshes act as a physical barrier to the green goop and allow plants to absorb the nutrients that fed it, said Randy Smith, spokesman for the South Florida Water Management District.
The danger will remain so long as the weather remains hot and rainy, conditions favorable to the growth of algae.
Dee Ann Miller, spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, said other factors include reduced water flow and an absence of animals that eat algae. But she said it’s hard to know when the right mix of factors will come together to produce the catastrophic outbreaks that have disrupted coastal
communities.
“The nature of most freshwater algal bloom events makes it difficult to predict where and when a bloom will occur or how long it will last,” she said.
This season’s algae blooms resulted from many factors, both human and natural. Lake Okeechobee, polluted from decades of agricultural fertilizers and manure, harbors ample nutrients for blue-green algae. Hurricane Irma disturbed the bottom of the lake, where much of the agricultural pollution had settled, mixing the nutrients into the water.
When heavy rains came in May, the Army Corps of Engineers lowered the lake level to protect its aging earthen dike. This sent algae-laden water to the coasts through the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie rivers, fouling communities along the coasts with thick, green slime. The algae can cause fish kills and can harm human health, generating toxins that can cause nausea, liver problems and neurological problems.