Cape neighbors grow frustrated over algae; mayor speaks on possible timeline

People are fed up with the green and blue algae flowing down the canals in Cape Coral.

“Every day I scoop out a little bit more and I try to go for the really heavy blue stuff,” said Cape Coral resident Peter Formica

Formica know it’s not much.

“It’s thick, it’s just so thick that the net kind of falls apart on me,” Formica said.

Everyday he takes his pool net down to the canal just outside his condo, tired of seeing and smelling the thick blue-green algae that’s festered for weeks.

“We have friends that usually come down and spend the week with us … and I told them not to come down,” Formica said.

On Facebook, Cape Coral viewers want to know what’s being done about the growing problem.

WINK News asked Mayor Joe Coviello if there is a timeline and when things are going to change?

“The time frame on it is a(s) soon as we get it figured out the proper course of action to take with in our city, we will,” Coviello said.

Coviello said he’s banded together with mayors from across Florida’s west coast firing off letters to lawmakers and now even drafting one from the White house.

“We’re putting in things about what’s needed in the way of funding and what the solutions that are being told to us are,” Coviello said.

“But the ultimate thing is the water quality needs to come out of the lake better,” Coviello said. “Why they’re not implementing water quality standards in the department of environmental protection up there and looking at these types of solutions before it’s released is something that I think needs to be done.”

But neighbors like Formica are growing impatient.

“I’m going to be honest with you, if this doesn’t get cleared up and the next little bit I’m going to be close my place up and go back up to Ohio, and not care about Cape Coral, and probably look elsewhere,” Formica said.

Coviello said next week some city staff will meet with a biotech company here in Cape Coral to talk about possible chemical treatments for this algae.

He’s also looking to the future with some possible solutions like adding booms to block off algae from getting into Cape Coral canals in the first place.

For more information on the algal blooms, visit the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s website.

A meeting to discuss water quality took place from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Cape Coral Yacht Club on 5819 Driftwood Parkway.

WINK News reporter Taylor Petras spoke with experts and residents at forum designed to address the impacts of the algal blooms. Watch the full segment below: