Lake Okeechobee blue-green algae levels rising

Summer means high air and water temperature, rainy afternoons, and blue-green algae.

Blue-green algae are something we’re used to this time of year, but a 300-square-mile-wide bloom on Lake Okeechobee?

“I see blue-green algae — big wind rows, I would call it– of algae that had floated up from lower down on the water column,” says FGCU algae expert Barry Rosen.

Satellite images from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) show how blue-green algae developed and moved.

The algae cover has grown from no detectable cyanobacteria to 300 square miles of it. The scary part for Southwest Florida is that it’s in Clewiston. Blue-green algae inching closer to the Caloosahatchee. The mission for water managers is to keep lowering Lake Okeechobee’s levels before the rainy season is in full swing.

NOAA oceanographer Rick Stumpf predicts the growth pace will slow but expects the bloom to keep getting larger. While these satellite images help lake managers, Stumpf says they’re also there for the public to have an idea of what they might be looking at and where things might be.

“What we saw now is the result of a fairly rapid growth in the last week or so. The growth will begin to slow down but it may continue on the movement that is very much driven by winds,” Stumpf said.

“It’s all blown to the southwest part of the lake,” said Rosen. “That’s where you go from the greenish bluish colors on the satellite imagery, to the bright yellows and oranges, so that brighter color tells you you’ve got more chlorophyll out there and more biomass of algae.”

The goal of Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection and the Department of Health is to keep the public safe.

“FDEP gets the water samples either directly or from the South Florida Water Management District. They do the analysis, high level analysis, of the quantity of toxins there, and FDEP also identifies the organisms that are there, but then it’s up to the Florida Department of Health to put out the advisory, so to be cautious, and there were a few hot spots in the sampling from last week,” Rosen added.

Lake Okeechobee blue green algae level is still higher than water managers would want it to be.