SAFETY HARBOR, Fla. — When toxic blue-green algae invaded the lake behind Francie Rogal’s Safety Harbor home, she called the county to report the smell.
“It was horrible,” said Rogal. “There was a white scummy slime on the surface.”
Pinellas County warned residents to stay away, claiming the toxic slime can cause repertory problems and even death if ingested by pets. Because of all the gators, few people play in Rogal’s lake, but researchers warn that’s not always the case, especially here in Florida.
“It’s definitely something we need to be worried about,” said Malcolm McFarland, a research associate with the Florida Atlantic University Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute. “If it’s in places where people are fishing and using fresh water for recreation, for boating and swimming and fresh water that provide drinking water, that’s a concern.”
McFarland is studying the impacts on much larger bodies of fresh water like Florida’s Lake Okeechobee. High-res satellite images show just how bad the problem is there.
“From the color of the return of the satellite, we can get an estimate of how much algae there is in the water,” said McFarland.
Experts say there’s no doubt the algae is bad for the ecosystem, but some fear it could be equally as harmful to tourism as images Florida’s slime-choked lakes are seen by potential visitors.
“It certainly doesn’t look good,” said McFarland. “If you’re coming to Florida to enjoy boating or fishing or recreation on the waterways, it’s not going to be very nice to have to swim or boat through some green sludge and toxic algae. It’s not good for anyone.”
Florida’s not the only state dealing with these blooms, but certainly we're among those with the most to lose. Researchers are trying to better understand how to prevent or minimize blooms, but McFarland says the first step is reducing the amount of fertilizer and agricultural runoff contaminating the water.
“This is a problem that is increasing here, and by all indication it seems like this is going to be a problem well into the future.”
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