blue-green algae
When it comes to solving Florida’s water pollution problems, we’re always looking for the silver bullet, the easy way, the shortcut. And these shortcuts almost always involve “technology.” So we were unsurprised to see a bill filed earlier this month…
It’s toxic algae season — the least wonderful time of the year! At last week’s South Florida Water Management District Governing Board meeting, District Director of Water Resources Lawrence Glenn reported that algae blooms on Lake Okeechobee are beginning to…
After last week’s newsletter asking if our discharge crisis was over, we got lots of feedback from readers along the Gulf coast who said the answer was “no.” While the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers halted discharges from Lake Okeechobee…
For months we’ve been predicting it. Thursday it became official: Beginning Saturday, Feb. 17, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will begin hammering the northern estuaries with discharges from Lake Okeechobee. In a press release the Corps said water will…
“Listen to the Science,” screamed the headline of the flyer that showed up in Martin County mailboxes (and perhaps elsewhere) last week. “SEWAGE is Killing Our Local Waterways.” The ALARMING WORDS were framed in multiple pictures of blue-green algae. Flipping…
After several years of using an algaecide to kill blue-green algal blooms in Lake Okeechobee and the canals around it, the South Florida Water Management District now plans to test the chemical compound for possible damage to the environment. At…
As a VoteWater supporter, you’ve long known that dirty money = dirty water. Campaign cash from polluting industries buys influence in Tallahassee, Washington, D.C., even your local county commission chambers. This results in laws that protect polluters and prevent progress…
Ten years ago today, we were in the eye of the storm. The discharges from Lake Okeechobee to the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers had begun May 8; by early August 2013 the “Lost Summer” was in full swing, with…
The “Gray Lady” has noticed the blue-green gunk on Lake Okeechobee. The world may soon notice, too. On its website last weekend — and on the front page of the print edition Monday, July 10 — the New York Times…
First the good news: The record pace of manatee deaths in Florida has slowed. Two years ago Florida saw a record 1,100 manatee deaths. The primary cause of this “unusual mortality event” was starvation due to the loss of seagrass…