Despite reports, algae blooms are looking average
It’s not as bad as you may have heard. An internationally renowned water quality scientist says that, contrary to what some national media has been reporting this summer, Lake Okeechobee and the Caloosahatchee River are having a rather average year in terms of toxic blue-green algae blooms.
Pockets of algae have popped up in recent weeks, but Barry Rosen, a professor and researcher at Florida Gulf Coast University, said stories like ones that appeared last week in the New York Times are wrong, that Lake Okeechobee is not suffering from a particularly strong bloom this year.
“The best way to know is to look at the satellite imagery and it shows there’s hardly any out there,” Rosen said of images taken regularly by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA. “And it’s really surprising. It doesn’t seem to be a big bloom year for the lake.”
How does Lake Okeechobee’s bloom look now?
At times it looked like this summer might be a tough one as blooms have popped up in localized areas.
But Rosen said the overall picture is relatively positive from a blue-green algae perspective.
“Downstream in Cape Coral, that had a high microsystin concentrations,” Rose said of blue-green algae. “But it hasn’t been a guacamole year. It’s been hot enough to be a guacamole year, but it hasn’t been.”
The latest NOAA imagery shows a low to moderate bloom on the lake, with the highest concentrations being on the northeast side.
Bloom levels on the lake have varied this summer, from normal, background concentrations to moderate bloom conditions.
At times the blooms appeared to take over 90% or more of the surface, according to the satellite imagery.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers manages Lake Okeechobee surface levels and since 2008 has kept levels between
This NOAA satellite image shows low to moderate blue-green algae conditions on Lake Okeechobee. This year has been an average one for blooms, according to one water quality expert.
PROVIDED BY NOAA
12.5 and 15.5 feet above sea level, but the agency may not make potentially damaging releases until the lake gets up to 16.5 feet above sea level because the dike surrounding the lake has been rehabilitated.
“We’re seeing a lot of algae on the lake and in the canals,” said Army Corps Col. James Booth during a press conference Friday. “It’s a snapshot in time of our current conditions. Especially at Port Myakka, we’re seeing conditions change hourly.”
Algae blooms a recurring problem in Southwest Florida
Toxic blue-green algae blooms have become more common throughout much of Florida in recent years as excess nutrients have combined with warm water to foster an environment that is at times ripe for algae blooms.
Water advocates on both the East and West coasts are watching closely the Army Corps, which will announce any release changes Friday.
Both the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie rivers were artificially connected to
Lake Okeechobee in order to drain the Everglades to provide land for farming and development.
Nowadays, with the upper Caloosahatchee ditched and drained, this coast, at times, needs freshwater from Lake Okeechobee to help balance the river’s delicate estuary.
The St. Lucie, however, does not need water from the lake.
The historic Everglades has basically been reimagined as a 16-county region that contains the Kissimmee River, Lake Okeechobee, the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie rivers, the farm fields south of the lake, Everglades National Park and Florida Bay.
Different parts of the system need different water levels at different times.
In previous years the Army Corps has maintained what’s called the Lake Okeechobee Release Schedule, or LORS, a 2008 document meant to guide lake levels.
In recent years, though, the Army Corps has used flexibility in the plan to help ward off blue-green algae in both estuaries.
Blue-green algae blooms that originated on the lake crippled both coasts before (the St. Lucie in 2016 and the Caloosahatchee in 2018).
Advocates on both coasts worry that lake releases may be in their future as Okeechobee is 2.3 feet higher than it was at this time last year.
The Herbert Hoover Dike surrounds Lake Okeechobee, and it protects nearby towns and farms from flooding during the summer months.
With the dike now rehabilitated, Booth has said the Army Corps feels better about keeping water levels higher, at least from a flooding perspective.
“We want to hold onto releases as long as possible,” Booth said. “Sixteenand-a-half feet (is) not a magic number, but we’re trying to make it through August and September, and maybe activities will slow down. But if (the lake) shoots up, we’ll have to consider high flow releases and we’re hoping not to do that.”
Calusa Waterkeeper Emeritus John Cassani said Caloosahatchee River estuary levels have been healthy so far this summer.
“It’s good, but it might not turn out to be good because if they get abnormally high rains they’re going to have to dump more water and the massively high discharges will push out to the Gulf and create other problems,” Cassani said.
“But it’s a gamble that rainfall won’t be a problem later in the summer or we won’t get a hurricane, in which case all bets are off.”
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