They need to see a particularly nasty environmental mess that we are leaving to their generation to fix. It’s graphic, but not in the way where the children need to leave the room. The video was attached to an email sent to me by Captains for Clean Water, an up-and-coming grassroots environmental group in Southwest Florida that is already making inroads with state and federal lawmakers on coastal issues important to us all. That, right now, we don’t have enough fear about it in our hearts to effect the type of change on a wholesale level that it would take to depollute Lake Okeechobee. One look is all it took for me to realize that harmful algae blooms are going to be around until we on the planet can’t live with them anymore. All totaled, tens of thousands of WGCU's readers and listeners with an interest in blue-green algae were exposed to it.īut it took only one glance at a video of blue-green algae to stop me cold. The written words were accompanied by about ten photos and graphics to illustrate the particular focus of each piece. My seven or eight stories on blue-green algae this year probably totaled 3,500 words combined, whether written for my stories on the web or spoken for my stories broadcast over the air. So much so that the CDC made a cyanobacteria fact sheet and treatment chart for poison control professionals. A decent exposure can lead to serious health concerns for some with weakened immune systems, the very young or very old.Ĭenters for Disease Control and Prevention Blue-green algae toxins for poison control professionals But I’ve explained this one alreadyīlue-green algae is usually harmless to most as long as you don’t languish in it. TB: Lake Okeechobee is America’s best example of a blue-green algae incubator. As it decays, it will smell far worse than rotting plants.ĬDC: “Cyanobacterial blooms more often occur during the summer or early fall but can occur anytime during the year.”ĬDC: “Cyanobacteria usually multiply and bloom when the water is warm, stagnant, and rich in nutrients (phosphorus and nitrogen) from sources such as fertilizer runoff or septic tank overflows.” TB: When a bloom occurs, scum will float on the water surface. As it decays, it can smell like rotting plants.” TB: When you can see blue-green algae, it might be orange (or any other earth tone).ĬDC: “When a bloom occurs, scum might float on the water surface. TB: You often can’t see blue-green algae, and it can be in any type of water outside.ĬDC: “Cyanobacterial blooms are usually blue-green in color, but can be other colors, including red or brown.” The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sums it up for health professionals.ĬDC: “Cyanobacteria, also referred to as blue-green algae, are microscopic organisms that live primarily in freshwater, but can also be found in brackish or salt water.” More words in a story highlighting that blue-green algae is being detected by water-quality testing, whether performed by the Florida Department of Health, the Lee County Environmental Lab, or the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, farther west down the Caloosahatchee River as the weeks go by.ĭifferent agencies with the same results - abnormally high levels of the cyanobacteria that comprise blue-green algae in the river – warning of the same precautions: not just “don’t drink it,” but “don’t even let it touch you,” or your animals, because it could lead to skin rashes, diarrhea, vomiting, skin, eye or throat irritation, allergic reactions, and not just dogs or cats who drink it might die but so can livestock the size of cows. One was a story on how the blooms can originate in Lake Okeechobee since the lakebed is polluted with agriculture runoff and septic tank overflows, and another an essay on why water tainted with the harmful algae bloom sometimes must be released into the Caloosahatchee River anyway.Ī piece explaining the history of blue-green outbreaks in Southwest Florida, and then one on how Hurricane Ian, last year, started this year’s go-round with blue-green algae. At least six times in seven weeks a story on my plate has been a necessary update of the blue-green algae outbreak expected for this summer.
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