MARTIN COUNTY, Fla. — Choppy waters out at Lake Okeechobee Monday are impacting the algae at the Port Mayaca Lock, which the Florida Department of Environmental Protection said covered as much space as a football field over the weekend.
“Algae love this temperature, anything over 88 degrees is prime,” Martin County Ecosystem Division Manager John Maehl said.
Maehl said the county has been keeping an eye not just out at Lake Okeechobee, but also inland along the C-44 canal, where a health department advisory went up last week at Timer Powers Park in Indiantown.
Algae at the boat ramp tested 100-times more toxic than what’s considered safe to touch.
“This is the first time we saw something in the St. Lucie Canal far from the lake,” Maehl said.
The county reached out to the South Florida Water Management District for help.
“The Water Management District deployed a contractor that’s approved for treating cyanobacteria with a peroxide kind of chemical," Maehl said. "It seemed to do a really good job of killing the cyanobacteria and they continue to monitor the microcystin level, which is the toxin we’re most concerned with."
Results out Monday from samples taken post-treatment showed a microcystin level of just 5.6 parts per billion, below the 8 parts per billion threshold considered safe, and a huge drop from the 800 parts per billion measured last week.
WPTV reached out to the South Florida Water Management District to ask them for more details on the procedure used.
A district spokesman said their treatment uses an innovative technology that breaks down the blue-green algal cells and the toxins they produce, but the treatment does not lift or change County Health Department recommendations and advisories.
In the meantime, Maehl said it’s encouraging that we’ve gotten to this point without large algal blooms in the estuary as the stage was set for a really awful summer.
“The Herbert Hoover Dike has been completed, so the Corps has a little more risk tolerance with higher lake levels and dam safety concerns," Maehl said, "and we’re seeing the benefit of that this year."
