ALGAL BLOOM - SUMMER 2019
Algae first appeared in our canals this year on July 20th. Last year, it was September 28th. As far as we know, our neighborhood was the first one in the City this year to have an algae bloom. Last year it was Las Olas Isles.
We have received lots of phone calls and emails about the algae, asking us what we are doing about it. Unfortunately, once the bloom has occurred, there isn’t anything that can be done safely to eliminate it. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection, the SFWMD, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the IFAS at the University of Florida have expert scientists working on the problem, to no avail so far. The Environmental Services Department for the City of Fort Lauderdale is keenly aware of it. They participate in the frequent workshops held around the state by DEP. They have City inspectors checking the waterways throughout the City on a weekly basis. Once it occurs, it needs to be monitored for health purposes.
We have been told by neighbors who claim to have a “solution” to the algae to do things like “spread copper sulfate in the water,” “ filter it out of the water,” “put large sprinklers in the water to increase the oxygen level,” “use hydrazine (a known carcinogen) to kill it,” etc. All of these solutions have been tried around the state and they didn’t work, they're not practical – or they're illegal. (Putting a carcinogen in the water to kill the algae – really??)
As soon as the City, County, or state announces a viable solution to the algae, LIWMD will be on it. But that’s not going to happen in the near future.
And posts on Nextdoor like, "LIWMD used to spray the algae," are dead wrong. Algae has never been sprayed for removal in Lauderdale Isles waterways - because there is no spray that will kill alage and not cause worse problems for our waterways.
Hey – we live on the canals too. And we want the algae gone just as much as everyone does. But LIWMD cannot conduct experiments to try to cure the algae blooms. We can only proceed when the experts - the scientists working on the problem at the state and federal levels tell us there's a solution.
PREVENTION:
So our efforts have been to try to make everyone aware of what causes the algae. We wrote about algae prevention in the May and August LICIA newsletters. The problem is locally introduced nutrients: Lawn & plant debris blown into the canals, excess fertilizer washed into the canals, and animal waste runoff into the canals. Yet every day, if you look out in your canal, within the algae you invariably see lawn clippings and leaves blown into the canal that day by careless homeowners and lawn service crews. As long as that continues, conditions will remain conducive for algae growth.
WHEN WILL IT BE GONE
The algae dissipates when the water temps cool down and it usually disappears right before the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show.
SAFETY
It is not safe to swim in our canals now, and the algae should not be ingested. As of right now, the testing of our waters has not shown the existence of toxic algae, but that may change as the summer progresses. Make sure that diver who cleans the bottom of your boat every month knows this.
MORE INFORMATION
The best place for more information on the blue-green algae in our canals is at the Department of Environmental Protection’s website at the link below. On this site you can see where samples of algae have been collected – including from our neighborhood – and the results of laboratory tests of those samples.
Florida DEP’s Algal Bloom Dashboard: https://floridadep.gov/algalbloom
We have received lots of phone calls and emails about the algae, asking us what we are doing about it. Unfortunately, once the bloom has occurred, there isn’t anything that can be done safely to eliminate it. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection, the SFWMD, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the IFAS at the University of Florida have expert scientists working on the problem, to no avail so far. The Environmental Services Department for the City of Fort Lauderdale is keenly aware of it. They participate in the frequent workshops held around the state by DEP. They have City inspectors checking the waterways throughout the City on a weekly basis. Once it occurs, it needs to be monitored for health purposes.
We have been told by neighbors who claim to have a “solution” to the algae to do things like “spread copper sulfate in the water,” “ filter it out of the water,” “put large sprinklers in the water to increase the oxygen level,” “use hydrazine (a known carcinogen) to kill it,” etc. All of these solutions have been tried around the state and they didn’t work, they're not practical – or they're illegal. (Putting a carcinogen in the water to kill the algae – really??)
As soon as the City, County, or state announces a viable solution to the algae, LIWMD will be on it. But that’s not going to happen in the near future.
And posts on Nextdoor like, "LIWMD used to spray the algae," are dead wrong. Algae has never been sprayed for removal in Lauderdale Isles waterways - because there is no spray that will kill alage and not cause worse problems for our waterways.
Hey – we live on the canals too. And we want the algae gone just as much as everyone does. But LIWMD cannot conduct experiments to try to cure the algae blooms. We can only proceed when the experts - the scientists working on the problem at the state and federal levels tell us there's a solution.
PREVENTION:
So our efforts have been to try to make everyone aware of what causes the algae. We wrote about algae prevention in the May and August LICIA newsletters. The problem is locally introduced nutrients: Lawn & plant debris blown into the canals, excess fertilizer washed into the canals, and animal waste runoff into the canals. Yet every day, if you look out in your canal, within the algae you invariably see lawn clippings and leaves blown into the canal that day by careless homeowners and lawn service crews. As long as that continues, conditions will remain conducive for algae growth.
WHEN WILL IT BE GONE
The algae dissipates when the water temps cool down and it usually disappears right before the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show.
SAFETY
It is not safe to swim in our canals now, and the algae should not be ingested. As of right now, the testing of our waters has not shown the existence of toxic algae, but that may change as the summer progresses. Make sure that diver who cleans the bottom of your boat every month knows this.
MORE INFORMATION
The best place for more information on the blue-green algae in our canals is at the Department of Environmental Protection’s website at the link below. On this site you can see where samples of algae have been collected – including from our neighborhood – and the results of laboratory tests of those samples.
Florida DEP’s Algal Bloom Dashboard: https://floridadep.gov/algalbloom