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Gov. Scott Tours Blue-Green Algae Bloom in SWFL, Declares State of Emergency

Rachel Iacovone
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WGCU
Gov. Rick Scott tours the Caloosahatchee River.

As of Monday morning, the Army Corps of Engineers had halted releases of water from Lake Okeechobee to the west coast. This came after the decision to stop sending water toward the east coast late last month. Still, the persistent blue-green algae bloom brought Gov. Rick Scott to Southwest Florida for a firsthand look.

The sloshing sound of the wake against the boat carrying Gov. Scott sounded no different than usual Monday morning, but what was unusual was the color — a bright, neon green.

It was so changed, in fact, the governor said he would declare a state of emergency by the end of the day.

“You have to say, ‘Okay, make a decision. What do you think is really going to happen?’ and push your resources there," Scott said.

The resources, in this case, have been pushed toward the Florida Department of Environmental Protection for additional water monitoring stations in Southwest Florida and, on the federal level, toward fixing the Herbert Hoover dike, which surrounds Lake Okeechobee.

Credit Rachel Iacavone / WGCU
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WGCU
Gov. Scott addresses the media boat during his tour of the Caloosahatchee River.

Officials acknowledge, though, while monitoring will help in the future, it won’t change the so-called "guacamole-like" river water already filled with toxic blue-green algae.

Credit Rachel Iacavone / WGCU
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WGCU
The algae-laden water of the Caloosahatchee River below Midpoint Memorial Bridge, which connects Fort Myers and Cape Coral in Southwest Florida

Scott said it was “frustrating” to see.

“I like the water, and you know, I like to take my grandkids out on the water," Scott said. "So, I know it’s frustrating for people.”

As the governor shared his next steps with local and state officials, a man on a nearby boat casted a line into the sickly green water, as those on the tour could only watch in pained silence.

At 4 p.m. Monday, Scott officially issued the aforementioned emergency order to combat algal blooms in Glades, Hendry, Lee, Martin, Okeechobee, Palm Beach and St. Lucie counties.

Rachel Iacovone is a reporter and associate producer of Gulf Coast Live for WGCU News. Rachel came to WGCU as an intern in 2016, during the presidential race. She went on to cover Florida Gulf Coast University students at President Donald Trump's inauguration on Capitol Hill and Southwest Floridians in attendance at the following day's Women's March on Washington.Rachel was first contacted by WGCU when she was managing editor of FGCU's student-run media group, Eagle News. She helped take Eagle News from a weekly newspaper to a daily online publication with TV and radio branches within two years, winning the 2016 Society of Professional Journalists Mark of Excellence Award for Best Use of Multimedia in a cross-platform series she led for National Coming Out Day. She also won the Mark of Excellence Award for Feature Writing for her five-month coverage of an FGCU student's transition from male to female.As a WGCU reporter, she produced the first radio story in WGCU's Curious Gulf Coast project, which answered the question: Does SWFL Have More Cases of Pediatric Cancer?Rachel graduated from Florida Gulf Coast University with a bachelor's degree in journalism.