NORTH FORT MYERS, Fla. — A resident in North Fort Myers posted pictures of blue-green algae in their backyard on the Caloosahatchee River on Tuesday. Calusa Waterkeeper found algae appearing on the river all the way from Labelle to North Fort Myers.
Cassani says this could be an early start to a long season of harmful algal blooms.
“It’s a little bit early, and water temperatures are still getting warmer,” said John Cassani with Calusa Waterkeeper.
One factor for the early arrival of the blooms is rainfall. Although the rainy season officially started May 15, there were several intense thunderstorms in the last few weeks.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association predict Florida could have above-average rainfall this season, from May to July.
“A couple of significant rainfall events that have happened lately, that generate some runoff into these waters, so typically the first flush of the season really brings in the most nutrients,” Cassani said.
More water falling from the sky adds more water to Lake Okeechobee, meaning more water flows downriver to the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee river.
“The more stormwater runoff there is, again that’s delivering more of the pollutants, particularly nitrogen and phosphorus,” Cassani said.
With more nutrients come more blue-green algae.
“There’s no filter coming down so all that algae, chemicals build,” said Henry Casdellanos, who lives on the Caloosahatchee River in North Fort Myers.
