CAPE CORAL, Fla. — As we head into the Fourth of July holiday weekend, toxic blue-green algae blooms continue to pop up in Lee County. The City of Cape Coral gave an update on the blooms this morning and the actions they are taking. This comes after several blooms have come back positive for small levels of toxin in samples taken by Florida DEP.
Cape Coral city leaders say they are still in the monitoring and mitigation phase. Cape Coral Environmental Resource Manager Dr. Maya Robert says they are ready to take further action if the blooms reach 2018 levels.
“So, the city has been positioning itself to have different types of technology available,” said Dr. Robert. “One of them is algaecide treatment. We hope that are not only to get there because it is very early in the season.”
One of the blooms that is city is monitoring is near Jaycee Park. This bloom tested positive for small levels of toxins related to Microcystis Aeruginosa, a known toxic blue-green algae. Cape Coral Resident Al Weiler has watched the bloom worsen around his boat in a nearby canal.
“The last three or four days it started to get greener and greener and now today it is really green,” said Weiler.
To slow the spread of blue-green algae near Jaycee Park and around Cape Coral, the city is asking the community to make sure they are following the fertilizer ban ordinances. Any fertilizer placed now can feed current blooms and worsen the ongoing situation.
“Just because you don’t live on a waterfront property, we are actually all connected by water in Cape Coral,” said Dr. Robert. “Even if you live on a dry lot, you are just a few feet way to any water body. So, you should always be mindful of how you manage your yard and your lawn.”
And with fertilizer bans in place since the beginning of June, you might be asking yourself why we are continuing to bloom. FGCU Water School’s Dr. Barry Rosen addressed this with Fox 4 earlier this week.
“What if you applied a month before the ban, the nutrients are still there,” said Dr. Rosen. “And we don’t even know what is in the ground water, which is also coming in. So, it is a good thing we have that ban because otherwise we would directly be pouring food on to these organisms.”
That said Cape Coral asking residents to be responsible and take ownership of their property in fighting these blooms.
“Everybody should really act responsibly when it comes to choices in landscaping, choices in fertilizing their lawns, choices in managing their waste or to control your yard debris,” said Dr. Robert.
As for how long these blooms will last, Dr. Rosen told Fox 4 earlier this week, expect these algae blooms to continue as long as warm weather conditions and rain runoff continue to supply nutrients into our water ways.
