DeSantis stops by Franklin Lock in Lee County to see blue-green algae treatment
Published: June 3, 2021 5:35 PM EDT
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Gov. Ron DeSantis stopped by Franklin Lock on Thursday to see firsthand the blue-green algae and how it’s being treated.
It has been a major problem recently and is igniting conversation about a repeat of 2018’s water crisis.
Crews have recently started using algaecide on the water’s surface to dissolve the algae, which isn’t a problem exclusive to our area. Israeli company BlueGreen Water Technologies is using the algaecide to combat the algae we’ve seen at Franklin Lock.
By Brian Mudd
Q&A Of The Day – Part 2 Who’s Responsible For Florida’s Polluted Waterways?
Bottom Line: The single biggest obstacle in near-term progress is and has been The Army Corps of Engineers. The biggest long-term problem is and has been US Sugar. The Cliff Notes version goes like this. The Army Corps of Engineers is tasked with the structural integrity of the Lake Okeechobee Dike. While members of the Corps may be sensitive to the environmental concerns of east-west discharges and now the record manatee deaths associated with the killing off of seagrass resulting from them, the environment isn’t their primary concern or objective. As a result, when water levels reach heights they consider dangerous, they discharge water through the existing canals regardless of the environmental impact. Hence the importance of completing the Everglades Restoration Project to release water south into the Everglades as naturally happened prior to the construction
For his family, the citizens of Lee County and the wounded soldiers he evacuated during the Vietnam War, Fred Bartleson was the right person at the right time.
How will the project be monitored?
Once completed, the group must achieve five successful years of measurable nutrient reduction in the water during a seven-year window, and will maintain upkeep on the marsh s vegetation, Graham said. Then, the wetlands will be turned over to the District.
Water samplers have a clear-cut technique for measuring how much pollution is siphoned out of the water as it passes through aquatic plants, Graham said.
Nitrogen and phosphorus levels are measured before water enters into the wetlands. Then, after working its way across the fields, and phosphorus and nutrients attach to plants or deposit into the soil, another sample is taken on the opposite end.