Environment

Water Quality Report: How much water released from Lake O into the Caloosahatchee River is too much?

WGCU | By Tom Bayles

Published February 26, 2023 at 8:00 AM EST

The constant red tides off Southwest Florida since Hurricane Ian washed massive amounts of nutrient pollution in the Gulf of Mexico last September have finally waned, and the water quality is exceptional

WATER QUALITY REPORT FOR JUNE 11, 2023

The Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation is one of the more active and impactful environmental grassroots groups in the region.

Among the many things the group does to help Southwest Florida’s marine environment, whether recovering from a hurricane or from mankind’s pollution, is to monitor the region’s water quality with a special focus on releases from Lake Okeechobee into the Caloosahatchee River.

Decades ago, the Army Corps of Engineers linked the Caloosahatchee River to Lake Okeechobee by digging a canal through the river’s swampy headwaters west of the lake.

These days, that waterway is the main one the Army Corps uses to release water from Lake Okeechobee when levels are high. Problem is, the lake water is hopelessly polluted with nitrogen and phosphorus that’s flowed into it from a century of fertilizer use by industrial-sized agriculture operations and residential uses.

In 2018, heavy releases of lake water into the river are believed responsible for a massive blue-green algae outbreak that fouled the greater Caloosahatchee River estuary all summer. That summer was also the first after a big Hurricane Irma, churned up the lake bottom in 2017.

Also called cyanobacteria, blue-green algae has already bloomed in the lake and things are shaping up for a repeat of 2018 in the river this summer.

On a weekly basis, the SCCF give their Ph.D-level recommendation to the Army Corps on how much water, and when, should be released from Lake Okeechobee into the Caloosahatchee River.

This week, the group’s tone turned serious:

“Recommendation: Entering into the rainy season, Lake Okeechobee is at a concerningly high level and has already started to develop worrisome cyanobacterial blooms. This sets up a potential scenario where the Caloosahatchee will experience damaging high lake-discharge events in addition to watershed runoff, resulting not only in increased nutrient loading and decreased salinity, but the transportation of harmful algae” into the Caloosahatchee River….

SCCF continues: “We strongly encourage the Corps to utilize all options to reduce rising lake levels in an effort to prevent damaging high releases to the Caloosahatchee estuary and to confirm the absence of cyanobacteria … before releases resume.”

The flow of lake water into the river at many hundreds of millions of gallons per day has been ongoing for months and was just paused June 1.

The release of lake water filled with blue-green algae will start again.

RED TIDE:

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission reports the red tide organism, Karenia brevis, was detected at background concentrations in one sample, which in one way doesn’t count because K. brevis is endemic in the oceans so it’s always at background levels, just less than background levels if that makes any sense.

No samples above background levels were observed. In Southwest Florida over the past week, K. brevis was observed at background concentrations in one sample from Lee County.

No reports of fish kills suspected to be related to red tide were received over the past week.

Respiratory irritation was not reported in Florida over the past week.

And that is that.

What is red tide?

Red tide is one type of harmful algal bloom caused by high concentrations of the toxic dinoflagellate K. brevis, which is a type of microscopic algae found in the Gulf of Mexico. Red tide typically forms naturally offshore, commonly in late summer or early fall, and is carried into coastal waters by winds and currents. Once inshore, these opportunistic organisms can use nearshore nutrient sources to fuel their growth. Blooms typically last into winter or spring, but in some cases, can endure for more than one year.

Is red tide harmful?

K. brevis produces potent neurotoxins (brevetoxins) that can be harmful to the health of both wildlife and people. Wind and wave action can break open K. brevis cells and release toxins into the air. This is why you should monitor conditions and stay away from beaches where red tide is in bloom. People in coastal areas can experience varying degrees of eye, nose and throat irritation during a red tide bloom. Some individuals with chronic respiratory conditions like asthma or chronic lung disease might experience more severe symptoms. Red tide toxins can also affect the central nervous system of fish and other marine life, which can lead to fish kills.

What causes red tide?

A red tide bloom develops naturally, but recent studies have discovered mankind's infusion of other nutrients into the mix can make the red tide last longer or get stronger. But biology (the organisms), chemistry (natural or man-made nutrients for growth) and physics (concentrating and transport mechanisms) interact to produce the algal bloom. No one factor causes the development of a red tide bloom.

BLUE-GREEN ALGAE

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which has a satellite pointed at Lake Okeechobee that can detect harmful algae blooms found large groups of blue-green algae in the east-center of the lake.

Strong winds from Category 3 Hurricane Irma in 2017 churned up nutrient pollution from the depths of Lake Okeechobee, which helped feed a blue-green algae outbreak that covered 95 percent of the lake’s surface during the summer of 2018.

The much stronger Category 4 Hurricane Ian last September churned up Lake Okeechobee even more, so fears are that this summer will bring a blue-green algae outbreak even worse than the devastating one in 2018.

What is blue-green algae?

Blue-green algae, also known as cyanobacteria, are a group of organisms that can live in freshwater, saltwater or brackish water. Large concentrations, called blooms, can change the water color to blue, green, brown, orange or red. Some cyanobacterial blooms can look like foam, scum, or mats on the surface of freshwater lakes and ponds. As algae in a cyanobacterial bloom die, the water may smell bad

Is blue-green algae harmful?

Different types of blue-green algal bloom species can look different and have different impacts. However, regardless of species, many types of blue-green algae can produce toxins that can make you or your pets sick if swallowed or possibly cause skin and eye irritation. The Florida department of Environmental Protection advises staying out of water where algae is visibly present as specks or mats or where water is discolored. Pets or livestock should not come into contact with algal bloom-impacted water or with algal bloom material or fish on the shoreline. If they do, wash the animals immediately.

What causes blue-green algae?

Blue-green algae blooms occur when the algae that are normally present grow in numbers more than normal. Within a few days, a bloom can cause clear water to become cloudy. Winds tend to push some floating blooms to the shore where they become more noticeable. Cyanobacterial blooms can form in warm, slow-moving waters that are rich in nutrients. Blooms can occur at any time, but most often occur in late summer or early fall.

If any major type of water quality alert is issued, you can find the details here in WGCU’s Water Quality Report.

Sign up for WGCU's monthly environmental newsletter, the Green Flash, today.

WATER QUALITY REPORT FOR JUNE 4, 2023

After a fall, winter, and half the spring with red tides blooms -- on-and-off, on-and-off, on-and-off -- from Tampa Bay south to Marco Island, what you’re going to read next is nothing short of amazing:

Last week there was no red tide anywhere in Southwest Florida.

No respiratory irritation due to red tide.

No smelly dead fish carcasses washed up on the beach en masse.

Just clean, clear, Gulf of Mexico water.

Even the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt is staying away as you well know, I’m sure, because you read my last Water Quality Report and know the late-for-the-date seaweed was the topic.

Red tides off Sarasota, Charlotte, Lee, and Collier counties were a near-constant fixture since the foot of rain that was produced by Hurricane Ian washed tons of nutrients into the Gulf of Mexico last September.

Much of the nutrient pollution is nitrogen and phosphorus for fertilizers used on front lawns and in agriculture, which don’t create a red tide but do feed it and allow it to perhaps become stronger and last longer than it otherwise would.

Red tides decreased in frequency in the spring, and now, with this week’s Water Quality Report, we know that Hurricane Ian’s bloom doom is over.

RED TIDE:

No samples above background levels were observed. In Southwest Florida over the past week, K. brevis was observed at background concentrations in one sample from Lee County.

No reports of fish kills suspected to be related to red tide were received over the past week.

Respiratory irritation was not reported in Florida over the past week.

And that is that.

What is red tide?

Is red tide harmful?

What causes red tide?

BLUE-GREEN ALGAE

What is blue-green algae?

Is blue-green algae harmful?

What causes blue-green algae?

If any major type of water quality alert is issued, you can find the details here in WGCU’s Water Quality Report.

Sign up for WGCU's monthly environmental newsletter, the Green Flash, today.

PREVIOUSLY ....

SPECIAL ADDENDUM, MAY 26/WATER QUALITY REPORT

The Florida Department of Health in Lee County has issued a Health Alert for the presence of harmful blue-green algal toxins in Caloosahatchee River - Fort Myers Shores.

This area is in response to a water sample taken on May 23. The public should exercise caution in and around Caloosahatchee River -- Fort Myers Shores.

Residents and visitors are advised to take the following precautions:

Do not drink, swim, wade, use personal watercraft, water ski or boat in waters where there is a visible bloom.
Wash your skin and clothing with soap and water if you have contact with algae or discolored or smelly water.
Keep pets away from the area. Waters where there are algae blooms are not safe for animals. Pets and livestock should have a different source of water when algae blooms are present.
Do not cook or clean dishes with water contaminated by algae blooms. Boiling the water will not eliminate the toxins.
Eating fillets from healthy fish caught in freshwater lakes experiencing blooms is safe. Rinse fish fillets with tap or bottled water, throw out the guts and cook fish well.
Do not eat shellfish in waters with algae blooms.

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WATER QUALITY REPORT FOR MAY 21, 2023

Just a few weeks ago, the many media accounts of the thousands of tons of smelly, brown algae set to wash ashore on Southwest Florida’s beaches, any day, were very much the same: gloom and doom.

The Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt, as it came to be known, is a 5,000-mile-long mat of an ecosystem that was going to float its way to Southwest Florida’s beaches and coat the sand in feet-thick, stinky, brown, thick, algae.

It was to be a cruel, post-Ian, trick of nature.

Hurricane Ian’s legacy

Hurricane Ian in September destroyed billions of dollars worth of homes and businesses, cars and trucks, personal belongings, and cherished photos. Power was out for weeks in places. Hurricane debris was piled along the roads from Marco Island to Sarasota as trash removal firms from across America were hired to collect it all. Some businesses never reopened, and some people lost their jobs.

The after-shocks of Hurricane Ian went on for months. All the nutrients washed into the Gulf of Mexico fed red tides that were back-to-back-to-back-to-bac … well, you get my point. Related fish kills washed tons of bloating, smelly carcasses ashore and hard-working crews wiped the beaches clean. Soon after, a new red tide did the same thing. Rinse and repeat, for nearly seven months.

Finally, in late March, the red tides became less frequent and less. Without the strong red tides, fish kills declined quickly. The acrid odor of the red tide in the air mixed with the smell of rotting fish carcasses waned.

For beach-goers, the sandy shores started smelling like salt air once again. For beach-front business owners, people returning to the shore meant customers would be back for ice cream, souvenirs, food and drink, boat rentals, and parasail rides.

Life was going to be a beach once again.

Then, The Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt hit the news:

Huge seaweed bloom that can be seen from space threatens Florida beaches

“A giant seaweed blob so large it can be seen from space is threatening to transform beaches along Florida’s Gulf coast into a brown morass, scientists say. The 5,000-mile-wide sargassum bloom — believed to be the largest in history at twice the width of the continental US — is drifting ominously toward the Sunshine State”.

Massive seaweed blob heads to Florida, threatens to cover beaches

“A giant blob of seaweed, spanning 5,000 miles and weighing an estimated 6.1 million tons, threatens to blanket Florida beaches and Caribbean islands with smelly piles of decaying brown goop.”

A giant seaweed blob is washing up on Florida shores. What is sargassum?

“Last year, large amounts of sargassum washed ashore on Florida beaches, such as Miami, in July, according to CBS Miami. This year, images from Miami Beach show the brownish seaweed already creating a barrier between the sandy beach and the shoreline.”

Dodged a seaweed invasion?

Despite at least one story published on the web and broadcast on the radio that cast doubt on whether the doomsayers were correct, little else was out there for news consumers in Southwest Florida but those near-apocalyptic-sounding stories about the incoming sargassum invasion.

Sargassum did pile up on some islands in the Florida Keys and up the state's East Coast.

Turns out, however, except for the occasional pile almost small enough to be picked up by hand (don’t do that: remember those stingy creatures?), the sargassum “blob,” as it has also been called, is floating right on by Southwest Florida and currently headed toward Texas.

What’s that you say? A near miss? We finally got a break?

There is still a chance some of the sargassum could wind up here, but it’s looking as if The Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt will continue to float due west.

Sorry, Texas.

RED TIDE

In the most recent water quality testing the red tide organism, Karenia brevis, was detected in 30 samples collected from Florida’s Gulf Coast, which is down from more than 100 positive samples just a few months ago.

Enough of the organism to create full-fledged blooms that often discolors the water was not found.

In Southwest Florida, K. brevis was observed at background-to-low concentrations in Sarasota, Charlotte, and Lee counties. Offshore of Collier County testing also found low amounts of the organism.

Reports of fish kills suspected to be related to red tide were received from Sarasota County, as were a spate of reports about respiratory irritation.

What is red tide?

Is red tide harmful?

K. brevis produces potent neurotoxins that can be harmful to the health of both wildlife and people. Wind and wave action can break open K. brevis cells and release toxins into the air.

This is why you should monitor conditions and stay away from beaches where red tide is in bloom. People in coastal areas can experience varying degrees of eye, nose, and throat irritation during a red tide bloom.

Some individuals with chronic respiratory conditions like asthma or chronic lung disease will experience more severe symptoms. Red tide toxins can also affect the central nervous system of fish and other marine life, which can lead to fish kills.

What causes red tide?

A red tide bloom develops naturally, but recent studies have discovered mankind's infusion of other nutrients such as lawn fertilizer into the mix can make the red tide last longer or get stronger.

But no one factor causes the development of a red tide bloom, although marine scientists at several research institutes and universities have ongoing programs to figure out what the catalysts.

BLUE-GREEN ALGAE

The most recent sampling by the Lee County Environmental Lab found elements related to blue-green algae at the Alva Boat Ramp as visible specks on the surface and in the water column, but no surface patches of algae.

Similar conditions were present upstream of the Franklin Locks and at the Davis Boat Ramp as streaks with wind-driven accumulation along the seawall.

Recent satellite imagery from Lake Okeechobee showed moderate-to-high bloom potential over 100 square miles in the southern portion as well as in Fisheating Bay.

What is blue-green algae?

Is blue-green algae harmful?

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection advises staying out of water where algae is visibly present as specks or mats or where water is discolored. Pets or livestock should not come into contact with algal bloom-impacted water or with algal bloom material or fish on the shoreline. If they do, wash the animals immediately.

What causes blue-green algae?

If any major type of water quality alert is issued, you can find the details here in WGCU’s Water Quality Report.

Sign up for WGCU's monthly environmental newsletter, the Green Flash, today.

PREVIOUSLY....

WATER QUALITY REPORT FOR MAY 8, 2023

The 2023 Southwest Florida Invasive Fish Roundup is this weekend in hopes of not just catching tilapia, Mayan cichlids, and armored catfish, but to also raise awareness of how harmful invasive species – in this case the swimming type – can be.

And if you are “catching” this Water Quality Report after the weekend of May 6-7, 2023, read it anyway.

There is a bunch of interesting information here to “school” you about how invasive species of all types can affect our water quality and, basically, ruin lives (mostly in the long term, but some professions are already hurting.) See? You’re “hooked” even if the children’s event is over. How punny.

First: The Event

The invasive fish roundup is led by Michael Sipos, an Florida Sea Grant Extension Agent in Collier County, who is trying to bring awareness of the problem to young people to begin their awareness and education.

Someday one of the junior-angler/scientists-to-be might even find a solution to the invasive-species problem everywhere, not only in the Southwest Florida Cooperative Invasive Species Management Area where the contest is being held this weekend.

“There is probably going to be thousands of fish reeled in. It’s going to be pretty neat,” Sipos said to ABC-7 News in Southwest Florida. “This roundup is to spread invasive species information. We’re helping the environment, but that is more of a Band-Aid on the issue.”

The competition runs from May 5 to 7 and includes all legal freshwater fishing areas in Hendry, Glades, Lee, Collier and Charlotte Counties. The weigh-in, which will include free educational activities, is Sunday at the Bass Pro Shops in North Fort Myers.

Sipos said, in 2022, the initiative brought in 1,884 pounds of invasive fish to weigh-in, which was 3,413 actual fish of 12 species.

This year the tourney brought in 138 registered anglers, 90 adults and 48 children. Sipos hopes there will be even more invasive types caught than those angling for them.

“By removing invasive fish, we’re definitely helping the environment,” Sipos told Waterman Broadcasting of Florida. “That education portion is almost the most important: Reminding people not to release their pets, consider native species instead of non-native.”

Second: The Problem

Water-borne invasive species - whether fish, plants, tiny organisms, cruentations, algae - can get into Southwest Florida’s waters in about as many ways as there are invasive species themselves: an unknown passenger on a plant, in the ballast water of a ship, and by people on purpose.

It often happens by pure mistake, like when a monster hurricane floods a home (hi, Ian) with so many feet of water that that colorful fish from the pet store with that unpronounceable name swims right out of the top of the tank in Timmy’s bedroom, and into the Everglades.

Invasive species can lead to the extinction of native plants and animals, destroy biodiversity, and permanently alter habitats.

Invasive species alter habitats by changing biodiversity, which leads to a greater competition for food and other resources, which in turn can lead to the extinction of native plants and animals.

As that happens time and again it can become regional in scale – global in time – and disrupt enough ecosystems to cause significant environmental, economic, and social impacts worldwide.

“It’s no secret that invasive species are a problem across the Unites States, and Florida is a hot spot,” Sipos wrote. “These plants and animals cost the economy billions in terms of agricultural losses and management and can cause immeasurable damage to the environment with impacts from invasive species being a frontrunner for species extinction.”

The National Ocean Service have a nifty video about water-born invasive species here.

If you spot any type of invasive species, or even think you do, you can report it here.

RED TIDE

Over the past week, no red-tide bloom was detected despite constant and intensive water quality testing in the ocean off Southwest Florida .

Wow.

That is saying something after Karenia brevis, the tiny organism that can gorge itself into a familiar, red, stinky, fish-killing situation, finally did not do so.

K. brevis has been active for more than six months since Hurricane Ian left nutrients in the Gulf of Mexico off Southwest Florida ripe for the stinky blooms.

In Southwest Florida over the past week, K. brevis was observed at low concentrations in Sarasota, Charlotte, Lee, and Collier counties

K. brevis is endemic in ocean waters, so no surprise that it was detected in little bits in 46 samples collected from Florida’s Gulf Coast.

But, again, nowhere off Southwest Florida was the microorganism plentiful enough to create a full-blown red tide bloom.

Scattered reports of fish kills suspected to be related to red tide were received over the past week from Sarasota County. Breathing problems perhaps related to red tide were reported in Sarasota and Lee counties.

For more information on red tide in the region, including maps and reports with additional details, click here.

BLUE-GREEN ALGAE

The Lee County Environmental Lab found reported moderately abundant components of blue-green algae at the Alva Boat Ramp as visible specks on the surface and in the water column.

More was moderately abundant upstream of the Franklin Locks as visible specks, and the same was at the Davis Boat Ramp with some wind-driven accumulation along the ramp.

Several days ago, satellite imagery from Lake Okeechobee showed low bloom potential on the western shoreline of the lake and in Fisheating Creek, covering about 20 square miles.

What is red tide?

Is red tide harmful?

What causes red tide?

What is blue-green algae?

Is blue-green algae harmful?

What causes blue-green algae?

If any major type of water quality alert is issued, you can find the details here in WGCU’s Water Quality Report.

Sign up for WGCU's monthly environmental newsletter, the Green Flash, today.

PREVIOUSLY...

WATER QUALITY REPORT FOR MARCH 26, 2023

Hold onto your shorts, because I’ve got good news.

The red time blooms plaguing Southwest Florida’s beaches for five months are drifting away to the north. Sorry Tampa Bay residents.

Oh hallelujah for us. Happy days. Where’s my floaty?

Just look at the map above. In nearly real time it shows where testing for the red tide organism is positive. If you don’t recognize it, that’s understandable, because it has been since last year that Southwest Florida wasn’t lit up like those red-yellow-green-“go” light stands at the start line of a drag-racing strip.

Look at all that non-color.

Since Hurricane Ian blew through in September and washed a whole bunch of nutrients like phosphorous and nitrogen from the land into the water, we here in Southwest Florida have been dealing with one red tide after another.

Do the clear results of water quality testing by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission mean red tide will not return? No.

But there is no reason to believe red tide blooms will return, either.

While hurricanes do not cause red tide, there is scientific evidence that those nutrients a storm washes into the ocean can make blooms last longer than if the food wasn’t available, but so little about red tide is 100-percent understood that I say let’s be thankful for this week. So enjoy it now.

A week ago red tide was not found in any water quality testing south of Tampa Bay

However, at some point the excess nutrients flushed in the coastal waters will be used up, diluted, and washed away. At that point, the back-to-back-to-back red tide blooms we’ve been living with will be no more.

Let’s hope we’ve reached that point.

Red tide organisms are endemic in the world’s oceans, which means it’s part of seawater. So expect it to show up in, as officials say, “low-to-medium background concentrations offshore Lee County,” or wherever. That is not a concern.

I, for one, am going to the beach this weekend.

RED TIDE:

In the most recent sampling, the red tide organism was detected in 79 samples along Florida’s West Coast. Enough of the cells were found to cause a bloom in five samples, but none of them in Southwest Florida waters.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration uses satellittle imagery to track red tide. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission conducts and tracks water quality testing for elevated levels of the red tide organism, which is endemic at background levels in ocean water.

In Southwest Florida over the past week, the organism that cause red tide, K. brevis, was observed at background-to-low concentrations in Sarasota County, background concentrations in Charlotte County, background-to-low concentrations in Lee County, and background to low concentrations in and offshore of Collier County.

Reports of fish kills suspected to be related to red tide were received from Southwest Florida over the past week in Pinellas, Sarasota, Lee, and Collier counties

Over the past week, respiratory irritation suspected to be related to red tide was reported in Collier County.

What is red tide?

Is red tide harmful?

What causes red tide?

BLUE-GREEN ALGAE

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s most current blue-green algae data was unavailable, but my guess is the findings have not changed much since two weeks ago when DEP and the South Florida Water Management District drew nearly two dozen samples earlier this week and tested them for components of blue-green algae and found nothing higher than trace levels in South Florida.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which has a satellite pointed at Lake Okeechobee and can detect harmful algae blooms found nothing of note this week, either.

That is expected to change.

What is blue-green algae?

Is blue-green algae harmful?

What causes blue-green algae?

If any major type of water quality alert is issued, you can find the details here in WGCU’s Water Quality Report.

Sign up for WGCU's monthly environmental newsletter, the Green Flash, today.

PREVIOUSLY ...

WATER QUALITY REPORT FOR MARCH 12, 2023

AMERICA – It’s if all at once the national media heard about Southwest Florida’s problem with incessant red tide blooms and decided to finally pay attention.

In case you're brand new to the area, you know that it was late last September when Hurricane Ian made landfall here and washed tons of nutrient pollution into the Gulf of Mexico. That provided fuel to fledgling red tide blooms, making some get bigger and last longer, than they otherwise might have.

Red tides are just plain nasty. They suck all the oxygen out of the seawater and kill fish on a wholesale level, then the tides wash them way up high on the sand where Mr. Sun takes over and bakes the carcasses until everything looks and smell just awful.

The red tide organism itself is rather rancid, too. It emits an acrid odor, somewhere between sucking on a penny in your mouth (kids do not do that at home), sniffing dried blood, and breathing in hairspray.

Beachfront business owners who survived the punishing storm finally reopened their doors just in time to get walloped by the reality of non-stop red tides, and they remain understandably miffed just trying to hold on.

All but the hardiest beachgoer is forced from the sand, by the sight and smell of dead and rotting fish, and by breathing in that acrid air that seems to dry up the back of your face and push whatever that moisture is called, out through the nostrils and tear ducts.

It's awful when it happens once every few years like quote-unquote "normal."

But all of that has been going on for five months. The red tides have not completely gone away. They've moved. Strengthen and lessened. Dissipated and began anew.

But gone away, for long enough, for the national news outlets to look and not see anything strange going on at the shorelines from Tampa Bay south to the Florida Keys? Hardly possible.

This month the national press, one by one, have decided endless red tide outbreaks are interesting enough to cover. Sometimes they even send a reporter here to research and write original stories. Other times, they are regurgitating what those of us already here have written. It happens.

Judging from the first few sentences of their stories, folks in New York City, San Francisco, and throughout the U.S.A. today, must really think dead fish and stuffy noses are something special because they all lead off their stories with those same two scene-setters:

“Florida-bound spring breakers expecting pristine beaches and clear blue seas may be in for a rude awakening along the southwest coast, where a toxic red tide has hit. The toxic algae bloom – which occurs naturally in the Gulf of Mexico but worsens in the presence of nutrients like nitrogen – has left a trail of devastation, including beaches littered with dead fish and residents with burning eyes and air-starved lungs. There’s no exact end in sight.”

“Dead fish are washing ashore and beach-goers are facing respiratory problems as harmful algae accumulate along the southwest shores of Florida in a phenomenon nicknamed “red tide.” … When K. brevis grows excessively, it can cause skin irritation, eye irritation and respiratory issues—such as coughing, sneezing and asthma attacks—in humans and pets that swim in affected water or breathe in its airborne toxins. The toxins can also make their way into shellfish, and if people eat those shellfish, they may develop neurotoxic shellfish poisoning, which causes stomach problems and other symptoms. When red tide is present, Florida officials recommend staying out of the water—and keeping pets away, too."

"Dead fish are washing up on the southwest Florida coast thanks to a toxic algae known as red tide that can pose a risk to humans. The algae, which is known formally as the single-cell Karenia brevis, has concentrated near Tampa and neighboring communities. Scientists have found the algae at rates ranging from 10,000 cells per liter to more than 1 million cells per liter – levels that result in fish kills and breathing difficulties in exposed humans, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.'

"Residents are complaining about burning eyes and breathing problems. Dead fish have washed up on beaches. A beachside festival has been canceled, even though it wasn't scheduled for another month. Florida's southwest coast experienced a flare-up of the toxic red tide algae this week, setting off concerns that it could continue to stick around for a while. The current bloom started in October."

And so on, and on, and on, did the national media turn their attention to Southwest Florida's red tide problem in March. The national media rarely beat regional journalists in own our backyards - or on their own beaches.

So thanks anyway News Corp, Smithsonian, Hearst, and Gannett. We could have used your help to spread the word five months ago.

RED TIDE

The red tide organism, Karenia brevis, was detected in 157 samples along Florida’s Gulf Coast during recent days.

Enough of the organism to cause a visible red tide were detected in 89 samples:. Thirty-two of those were offshore of Sarasota County, six off Charlotte County, nine off Lee County, and eight off Collier County.

In Southwest Florida over the past week using satellite imagery and other methods, red tide was observed at background-to-high concentrations offshore of Sarasota, Charlotte, and Lee counties. Very low-to-high concentrations were found offshore of Collier County.

Reports of fish kills suspected to be related to red tide were received along the Southwest Florida coasts of Manatee, Sarasota, Charlotte, Lee, Collier, and Monroe counties.

Respiratory irritation suspected to be related to red tide was reported in all the same areas.

What is red tide?

Is red tide harmful?

What causes red tide?

BLUE-GREEN ALGAE

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the South Florida Water Management District drew nearly two dozen samples earlier this week and tested them for components of blue-green algae and found nothing higher than trace levels in South Florida. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which has a satellite pointed at Lake Okeechobee and can detect harmful algae blooms found nothing of note this week, either.

That is expected to change.

What is blue-green algae?

Is blue-green algae harmful?

What causes blue-green algae?

If any major type of water quality alert is issued, you can find the details here in WGCU’s Water Quality Report.

Sign up for WGCU's monthly environmental newsletter, the Green Flash, today.

PREVIOUSLY ....

WATER QUALITY REPORT FOR FEB. 26, 2023

SOUTHWEST FLORIDA – “They” either got much better at figuring out where people are having breathing problems related to red tide, or red tide is offshore of all beaches throughout the region and people everywhere are having breathing problems.

Most likely: both.

“They” are the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, who report on the number of calls to a pair of hotlines for people feeling funky from red tide’s airborne annoyances.

That scratchy throat, those watery eyes, and that tell-tale, half-cough are giveaways that red tide is around.

You may want to have a seat while you read in how many places beachgoers are reporting breathing difficulties.

“Respiratory irritation suspected to be related to red tide was reported in Manatee County (Anna Maria Island Rod & Reel Pier, Anna Maria Beach, Coquina Beach, Longboat Key Beach, Manatee Beach), Sarasota County (Caspersen Beach, Englewood Beach, Humphries Park, Lido Key Beach, Longboat Key, Manasota Key, Manasota Key Beach, Nokomis Beach, Siesta Key Beach, South Brohard Park, Turtle Beach, Venice Beach, Venice Fishing Pier, Venice North Jetty Beach), Charlotte County (Don Pedro Island Ferry Landing, Gasparilla Pass, Oyster Creek Park Kayak Launch, Palm Island Resort Beach, Stump Pass), Lee County (Gasparilla Island Lighthouse, Gasparilla Island State Park South Lighthouse, Lynn Hall Beach, Tarpon Bay Road Beach), and Collier County (Cape Romano Island, Gullivan Key, Lopez River, Lowdermilk Park, Naples, Naples Beach, Naples Pier, Panther Key, Round Key, Turtle Key, Vanderbilt Beach, and Vedado Way Beach Access in Naples).

I believe that is every public beach between the southern mouth of Tampa Bay and Naples.

RED TIDE

Karenia brevis was found in 123 water quality samples offshore of Southwest Florida this weekend, more than any so far in the region in 2023.

A bloom strong enough to turn the water a visible red was detected in 75 of the samples, including seven off Manatee County, 27 offshore of Sarasota County, seven off Charlotte County, 22 offshore Lee County, nine off of Collier County, and one offshore of Monroe County.

Dead fish suspected to be smothered by red tide washed up on all of the same shorelines.

Red tide is so widespread that the Florida Department of Health in Collier County issued its own warning just days ago.

(We have) “issued a health alert for the presence of a red tide bloom in the following areas: Barefoot Beach State Preserve, Vanderbilt Beach, Seagate, Naples Pier, Keewaydin Island, and Doctors Pass. The previous alert issued for Barefoot Beach and Marco Island Beach remains in effect. The public should exercise caution in and around these areas.

Residents and visitors are advised to take the following precautions:

• Look for informational signage posted at most beaches.

• Stay away from the water, and do not swim in waters with dead fish.

• Those with chronic respiratory problems should be especially cautious and stay away from this location as red tide can affect your breathing

• Do not harvest or eat molluscan shellfish, or distressed or dead fish from this location. If caught live and healthy, finfish are safe to eat as long as they are filleted and the guts are discarded. Rinse fillets with tap or bottled water.

• Wash your skin and clothing with soap and fresh water if you have had recent contact with red tide.

• Keep pets and livestock away and out of the water, sea foam and dead sea life. If your pet swims in waters with red tide, wash it as soon as possible.

• Residents living in beach areas are advised to close windows and run the air conditioner, making sure that the A/C filter is maintained according to manufacturer's specifications.

• If outdoors near an affected location, residents may choose to wear masks, especially if onshore winds are blowing.

What is red tide?

Is red tide harmful?

What causes red tide?

BLUE-GREEN ALGAE

That is expected to change.

What is blue-green algae?

Is blue-green algae harmful?

What causes blue-green algae?

If any major type of water quality alert is issued, you can find the details here in WGCU’s Water Quality Report.

Sign up for WGCU's monthly environmental newsletter, the Green Flash, today.

PREVIOUSLY…

WATER QUALITY REPORT FOR FEB. 19, 2023

LAKE OKEECHOBEE - Red tide is still popping up in any given place off Southwest Florida’s coastline, thanks in large part to all the nutrient pollution washed off the land into the Gulf of Mexico by Hurricane Ian that “feeds” fledgling blooms.

This week there is finally a different water quality issue to discuss, but one that is not good at all.

No surprise that it’s also connected to Hurricane Ian.

Blue-green algae is arguably one of the worst threats from Lake Okeechobee, whose unofficial status that I just made up is “hopelessly polluted.”

The muck at the bottom of the lake is stacked deep with decades of nutrients like phosphate and nitrogen carried into it from industrial agricultural operations along the Kissimmee River to the north of the lake.

Hurricane Ian brought inland wind speeds topping 100 miles per hour in places, whipping up Lake Okeechobee with waves akin to a scale model of a Great Lake during a nor’easter. That, in turn, churned up the bottom of the lake, which only averages about ten feet deep.

Hurricane Irma did basically the same thing in the fall of 2017.

During the following summer the worst blue-green algae outbreak in decades filled both the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers after the lake’s floodgates were opened to lower increasing water levels. It was a complete mess.

“We're extremely concerned about the potential for a large bloom on Lake Okeechobee this spring and summer,” said Gil Smart, executive director of VoteWater, a Stuart-based nonprofit that works to improve the Everglades water quality by stopping discharges from Lake Okeechobee into the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers.

“We can't afford another ‘summer of slime.’ "

WGCU.org will soon publish a full story about this summer’s potential blue-green algae outbreak, which will be available at a link right here.

RED TIDE

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is detecting red tide in 96 samples along coastal Southwest Florida.

Enough of the organism to bloom into a full-blown red tide is present in half of those, and most are in our immediate area. Twenty-two of the samples were taken from offshore of Lee County, eight off Charlotte County, 13 off Sarasota County, and four off Manatee County.

The colored dots are water quality testing sites where red tide is currently present

In Southwest Florida over the past week, K. brevis was observed at very low-to-medium concentrations around Sarasota County, very-low-to-high concentrations offshore of Charlotte County, background-to-high concentrations along inshore Lee County, background, low concentrations along Collier County, and in Monroe County the concentrations are low.

Reports of fish kills suspected to be related to red tide were received in Southwest Florida over the past week from Manatee, Sarasota, Charlotte, Lee, and Collier counties.

Respiratory irritation suspected to be related to red tide was reported in Manatee, Sarasota, Charlotte, Lee, and Collier counties.

What is red tide?

Is red tide harmful?

What causes red tide?

BLUE-GREEN ALGAE

The Lee County Environmental Lab reported the presence of blue-green algae in water samples taken upstream of the Franklin Locks as some wind-driven tan-and-green scum along the lock and shore.

The Department of Environmental Protection found that blue-green algae sampling found elements of it in the Peace River., again. The agency provided no further information, which means that it is no big deal – unless the patch they detected is in the water near your backyard.

What is blue-green algae?

Is blue-green algae harmful?

What causes blue-green algae?

If any major type of water quality alert is issued, you can find the details here in WGCU’s Water Quality Report.

Sign up for WGCU's monthly environmental newsletter, the Green Flash, today.

PREVIOUSLY…

WATER QUALITY REPORT FOR FEB. 12, 2023

SOUTHWEST FLORIDA - Red tide is everywhere.

How many times am I going to have to write the same words to lead off this column?

Ever since Hurricane Ian washed an unimaginable amount of pollution from the land into the waters off Southwest Florida in September, red tides have been a regular part of life for those who live here.

In all that stuff that washed into the water, there are nutrients from too much fertilizer used on lawns, and agricultural-scale use of nitrogen and phosphorus. While “pollution “ to us, it is food for Karenia brevis, the micro-organism that is the genesis of a red tide.

Once the nutrients are in the waters offshore, as they have been since Ian, the nutrients that make your existing lawn grow taller can – and are - feeds an existing bloom and can make it stronger or last longer.

It’s truly Deja Vue for regular readers of this column. And some do not like that at all.

Imagine if you are struggling to make a living with a beach-front restaurant, or beach-chair rental business, or a boutique along the road that wind along the barrier islands in Southwest Florida.

Somehow your business survived the hurricane, but you don’t know if you can make it through wave after wave of red tides if those in the know (me) Keep. Writing. About. It. Dammit.

I truly feel for people in that position. Talk about a double-whammy. And I totally understand when a shoreline business owner asks me to cut it out. And I will -- as soon the red tides go away for good.

Well, at least when they go away and come back “like normal,” which is more so a bloom of varying intensity that floats around Southwest Florida waters every few years.

Karenia brevis is in sea water all the time in background concentrations, so if I were to get technical, red tide could be the topic of WGCU Water Quality report forever.

No, thank you.

We’ve got plenty of other issues with our water quality that need attention from environmental reporters: a polluted Lake Okeechobee, a polluted Caloosahatchee River, a phosphorus-heavy Charlotte Harbor. Streams and estuaries no longer functional due to development. Aging septic tanks leaking raw sewage into our coastal waters.

And I’m not going to get into (right now) our warming planet and rising sea levels, and the havoc in store for the nine million South Floridians who rely on the Everglades for their drinking water when sea water inundates the River of Grass.

Reporters make mistakes, and often our readers point them out and a solid and immediate correction is a requirement of an ethical and caring journalist. Sometimes what we write is not inaccurate, it is unpleasant, and some people wish reality was different.

I know I do. I wish the beaches were free of acrid smells and dead fish, and the water and sand not full of litter that can cut you or sink your boat.

But these red tides off Southwest Florida just won’t go away.

RED TIDE

The red tide organism, Karenia brevis, was detected in 91 samples offshore of Southwest Florida over the past week. Enough to be blooming or create a bloom were present in 25 samples: five in Sarasota County, one in Charlotte County, 15 in Lee County, and four offshore of Monroe County.

In Southwest Florida over the past week, K. brevis was observed at background to low concentrations in Manatee County, background to medium concentrations in Sarasota County, very low to medium concentrations in Lee County, and low and medium concentrations offshore of Collier County.

Reports of fish kills suspected to be related to red tide were received in Southwest Florida from Sarasota and Lee counties over the past week.

Respiratory irritation suspected to be related to red tide was reported in Manatee, Sarasota, and Lee counties.

What is red tide?

Is red tide harmful?

What causes red tide?

BLUE-GREEN ALGAE

In recent days, sampling for cyanobacteria by the Lee County Environmental Lab reported moderately abundant parts that make up blue-green algae upstream of the Franklin Locks as some wind-driven green scum along the lock and shore. More were present at the Davis Boat ramp.

Recent satellite imagery from Lake Okeechobee showed scattered low bloom potential on the lake.

What is blue-green algae?

Is blue-green algae harmful?

What causes blue-green algae?

If any major type of water quality alert is issued, you can find the details here in WGCU’s Water Quality Report.

Sign up for WGCU's monthly environmental newsletter, the Green Flash, today.

Previous....

WATER QUALITY REPORT FOR JAN. 29, 2023

LAKE OKEECHOBEE – The Liquid Heart of Florida, that 730-square-mile lake with a rather shallow average depth of nine feet for a body of water 33 miles from north shore to south, has been rather free of its scariest product so far in 2023: blue-green algae.

That’s great news for people who live, fish, or boat on the Caloosahatchee River, who will never forget the algae bloom outbreaks in the late 2010s, especially the blue-green algae outbreaks later in the decade were all but traced to releases of nitrogen-rich water from Lake O into the river. Over and over and over until the river, by some accounts, has becomes one of the most polluted rivers in the country.

There is no way to prove it imperially, but common belief says the environmental chain of events started when the Army Corps of Engineers significantly altered the Caloosahatchee River during the 1900s. Problems with pollution in the river built up over the ensuing decades.

To consider how much the agency forever changed the Caloosahatchee River, know that when nature was still in charge the Caloosahatchee’s headwaters were a waterfall and springs far west from Lake O, from a 3,300-acre Lake Flit.

Now the river’s oxbows are drying up as its channel has been straightened, dredged to the western shore of Lake O, and its water level altered by a series of locks and dams. The purpose of these structures was to provide navigation control as well as to prevent flooding in nearby communities.

And as most of you know the agency is in the midst of a multi-billion dollar, multi-decade-long project to heal the Everglades system it destroyed in the name of flood control a century ago by undoing the work it did then.

Get paid to break something important, then get paid again to fix the thing you just broke. Nice gig if you can find it.

Of course, nobody working at the Army Corps today was part of the crew that made the very arguably understandable, uniformed, environmental blunders back then that a lot of fine people are working to repair now.

In fact, many individual Army Corps folks I have met in my long career covering Florida’s environment are some of the most knowledgeable, well-informed, helpful and thoughtful environmental managers.

But those individuals are part of a massive military wing with a type of logic that has been proven wrong at least as often as right, and I’m not talking battlefield here, since the 1800s.

Some of the projects to dredge and channelize the Caloosahatchee were driven by the desire to make money by turning wetlands into property suitable for housing and agriculture. Other drivers included the need to provide flood control, to provide fresh water to Lee County, and to prevent salt water intrusion into upstream aquifers.

However, the work had significant impacts on the river's natural flow and ecology that continue today, most visible is a blue-green algae outbreak in the rive or a red tide bloom in the Gulf of Mexico fed by the nutrient pollution that flows straight down the straight path of the now-straightened river without curves to let bad nutrients settle out.

Glad, this week, people who depend on the Caloosahatchee River haven’t yet this year had to deal with any major harmful algae bloom.

RED TIDE

The red tide organism, Karenia brevis, was detected in 37 samples from and offshore of Southwest Florida over the past week. Concentration heavy enough to create a visible or smell-able bloom were present in 10 samples, eight of which are in Lee County, and one is offshore of Collier County.

Reports of fish kills suspected to be related to red tide were received in Southwest Florida from Sarasota and Lee counties over the past week.

Respiratory irritation suspected to be related to red tide was reported in Manatee, Sarasota, and Lee counties.

What is red tide?

Is red tide harmful?

What causes red tide?

BLUE-GREEN ALGAE

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection issued findings recently that blue-green algae sampling found elements of it in the Peace River. The agency provided no further information, which means that it is no big deal – unless the patch they detected is in the water near your backyard.

What is blue-green algae?

Is blue-green algae harmful?

What causes blue-green algae?

If any major type of water quality alert is issued, you can find the details here in WGCU’s Water Quality Report.

Sign up for WGCU's monthly environmental newsletter, the Green Flash, today.

PREVIOUSLY…

RED TIDE

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is reporting the red tide organism, Karenia brevis, has been detected in 102 samples from and offshore of Southwest Florida over the past week. Four of the samples offshore of Lee County had high enough of a concentration of the organism to cause a visible red color in the water.

The Florida Department of Health in Lee County issued health alerts for the presence of a red tide bloom near Alison Hagerup Beach Park on Captiva Island and Lighthouse Beach on Sanibel Island. The City of Sanibel reported respiratory irritation one mile east of Lighthouse Beach Park near Nerita St. as well as a new line of dead fish along the beaches, mainly mullet.

In Southwest Florida over the past week, K. brevis was observed at background-to-low concentrations offshore of Sarasota County, background-to-low concentrations in Charlotte County, background-to-medium concentrations in and offshore of Lee County, and background concentrations in Collier County.

Thanks to the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation for much of the above information.

What is red tide?

Red tide is one type of harmful algal bloom caused by high concentrations of the toxic dinoflagellate K. brevis, which is a type of microscopic algae found in the Gulf of Mexico. Red tide typically forms naturally offshore, commonly in late summer or early fall, and is carried into coastal waters by winds and currents. Once inshore, these opportunistic organisms can use nearshore nutrient sources to fuel their growth. Blooms typically last into winter or spring, but in some cases, can endure for more than one year.

Is red tide harmful?

K. brevis produces potent neurotoxins (brevetoxins) that can be harmful to the health of both wildlife and people. Wind and wave action can break open K. brevis cells and release toxins into the air. This is why you should monitor conditions and stay away from beaches where red tide is in bloom. People in coastal areas can experience varying degrees of eye, nose and throat irritation during a red tide bloom. Some individuals with chronic respiratory conditions like asthma or chronic lung disease might experience more severe symptoms. Red tide toxins can also affect the central nervous system of fish and other marine life, which can lead to fish kills.

What causes red tide?

BLUE-GREEN ALGAE

Nice news on the blue-green algae front, and something less and less common: There are no reports of any in the region,.

The Lee County Environmental Lab reported no cyanobacteria in the Caloosahatchee River. And satellite photos of Lake Okeechobee showed no bloom potential in the lake; however, cloud coverage obscured the view leading to a potential underestimate of algal bloom status.

What is blue-green algae?

Is blue-green algae harmful?

What causes blue-green algae?

If any major type of water quality alert is issued, you can find the details here in WGCU’s Water Quality Report.

Sign up for WGCU's monthly environmental newsletter, the Green Flash, today.

PREVIOUSLY…

WATER QUALITY REPORT FOR JAN. 22, 2023

Everything on the shoreline has a name, whether it is referring to part of the shallow water, the sandy area, the dunes, or behind them where a shoreline normally stops being beachy and a new section starts. Hopefully it is a line of mangroves or trees, but too often these days it is a paved street or a row of homes facing the Gulf of Mexico.

The mean low-tide line is how far the water goes out on an average low tide. Moving ashore from there is the beach face, or the slope that is wet sand when the tide is out and ankle-deep water when the tide is in – at the spot is the mean high-tide water line.

(That zone, from the low-tide mark to the high-tide mark, is public land in the State of Florida and generally everywhere else in the country much to the chagrin of many shoreline homeowners who mistakenly believe their property runs out into the ocean and the beach does not belong to the rest of the world. It does.)

Still moving away from the water after the mean high-tide water line is the backshore, which is what you and I would call the beach. The flat area where we spread out our beach towels.

If you a toddler or under ten years old, it is where you build sand castles.

If you are a teenager it is where you throw and football or Frisbee and try not to look like a teenager.

Over 20 years old and you’re looking for love.

Over 30 or 40 years, it is where you are helping your toddler build sand castles.

Over 50 or 60 years old, it is the sand in which you jam a colorful umbrella, lie down in a reclining beach chair – and fall asleep until it is time to go.

Beyond that are dunes the hold sand for when storms come to help break the waves and protect the inland areas. And finally, at the inland edge of the backshore, hopefully starts a line of trees or mangroves leading to an inland forest or swamp. But too often these days that line marks the water-front façades of shoreline mansions leading to roads and a village with a kite store, a 7-11, and 18 small restaurants.

Runnels, swales, and breakers are natural features carved in the sand by winds, waves, water, and tides.

A really cool feature is one developing on area beaches now, and they form days, weeks or months after storms large and small.

It’s called a wrack line, and it is a line of debris left on the beach by high tide. This is not the normal broken shells and clumps of dead sea grass left by most high tides.

The wrack is comprised of bigger stuff: full-size shells, branches, pallets, palm tree trunks, and old rope and nets. I bet it is where most of the folks who make cool things out of driftwood, smoothed glass from bottles, and coconuts get their raw materials.

A wrack line is also made up of feathers, plastic, all kinds of litter – and these days a lot of dead fish and birds.

On Sanibel Island, six dead birds at various stages of decay found at the wrack line during a beach cleanup including a double crested cormorant, two brown pelicans, a royal tern, and two herring gulls. Double the amount of dead birds were found on the beach last week.

There were also an abundance of dead shells in the wrack line including dosnia, cockles, pen shells, and fighting conchs on beaches from Lighthouse Beach Park to Tarpon Bay.

Ian, was it you?

RED TIDE

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is reporting the red tide organism was detected in 77 samples from and offshore of Southwest Florida over the past week. Enough to cause a bloom were present in 10 samples: two in Manatee County; four in Lee County; four offshore of Monroe County.

Reports of fish kills suspected to be related to red tide were received in Southwest Florida from Manatee, Sarasota, and Collier counties over the past week.

Respiratory problems believed associated with red tide was reported in Southwest Florida in Manatee and Sarasota counties

What is red tide?

Is red tide harmful?

What causes red tide?

BLUE-GREEN ALGAE

Lee County Environmental Lab reported the presence of an element of Blue-Green algae at the Alva Boat Ramp as visible specks.

Satellite imagery of Lake Okeechobee showed patchy low-to-medium blue-green algae bloom potential in the lake.

What is blue-green algae?

Is blue-green algae harmful?

What causes blue-green algae?

If any major type of water quality alert is issued, you can find the details here in WGCU’s Water Quality Report.

Sign up for WGCU's monthly environmental newsletter, the Green Flash, today.

PREVIOUSLY…

WATER QUALITY REPORT FOR JAN. 16, 2023

Red tide is everywhere again.

And I have some amazing help this week in explaining the situation.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is reporting the red tide organism, Karenia brevis, is being detected in 109 samples offshore of Southwest Florida. That’s more K. brevis than has been reported in quite some time, and to underscore just how prevalent that means red tide is right now, a 110^th positive water sample was found off of the state’s east coast, which is rare indeed.

So that means red tide is back. While sampling two weeks ago didn’t find any, my guess is it had to do with less samplers moreso than no red tide. Last week, a special research vessel crammed with scientists looking for red tide was out on the water for only the second time since Hurricane Ian in late September.

When there are enough of the organisms present to create a visible discoloration of the water (greater than 100,000 cells per liter of sea water for any data nerds like myself out there) it is called a “bloom concentration,” and six-figures per liter were found in 17 of the samples including one offshore of Sarasota County, four offshore of Charlotte County, four offshore of Collier County, and two offshore of Monroe County. More data continues below.

The facts and figures presented each week here in WGCU’s Water Quality Report is the result of a lot of work on the water, by a lot of people associated with a lot of agencies, public and private, who monitor our waters for harmful algae blooms.

At the risk of going way off-topic, next I will first overstate the obvious, then I’m going to throw a curveball.

Stick around. What’s coming will amaze you.

Stating the obvious: I wrote the words above from sources including the FWC, the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation, and marine scientists at Florida Gulf Coast University.

The curveball: The words you will next read about red tide were not written by me nor anyone else you know.

“Red tide, also known as harmful algal bloom (HAB), is a phenomenon that occurs when certain species of algae, such as Karenia brevis, rapidly reproduce and produce high concentrations of toxins. These toxins can harm marine life and make seafood unsafe to eat, and also can cause respiratory distress in humans. Red tide has been a recurrent problem in Southwest Florida, particularly in the Gulf of Mexico.

Currently, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) reports that red tide is present in low to medium concentrations in various areas along the southwest coast of Florida. The counties affected include Collier, Lee, Charlotte, Sarasota, Manatee, Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, Hernando, and Citrus. The FWC also reports that red tide has caused fish kills and respiratory irritation in these areas.

Red tide blooms are caused by a combination of natural and human-induced factors. The main cause of red tide is the high concentration of nutrients, especially nitrogen and phosphorus, in the water. These nutrients can come from agricultural runoff, sewage discharges, and other human activities. Additionally, red tide blooms are also influenced by weather patterns, water temperature, and currents.

The state of Florida has taken steps to address red tide. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) has implemented a Red Tide Mitigation and Technology Development Plan, which focuses on research and development of new technologies to reduce the impact of red tide. Additionally, the FWC is working with local governments and organizations to reduce nutrient pollution and to improve water quality.

However, despite these efforts, red tide continues to be a problem in Southwest Florida. The blooms can last for months and can have significant economic impacts on the region, particularly on the fishing and tourism industries. In addition, red tide can also cause long-term damage to marine ecosystems.

It's important to note that red tide can be unpredictable and can change rapidly. The FWC recommends that people check the red tide status before visiting the beach or going in the water, as well as to be aware of the symptoms of red tide exposure, such as eye and throat irritation, coughing, and sneezing.”

That was written at full speed by a supercomputer called ChatGPT, a human-language-mimicking computer network that really is that good.

I heard about the “chatbot” a few weeks ago online, and wondered if it would be able to compose something like WGCU’s Water Quality Report. Not because I was going to try and fool my editor or get out of doing a part of my job, but out of pure curiosity. And the chatbot did not disappoint. Try it and be stunned.

To get the results I italicized above, I typed the following command into a query box on the ChatGPT website: “Write me 300 words on red tide in Southwest Florida using current information from the internet.”

I also asked it to describe itself so I wouldn’t make a mistake in explaining a momentous breakthrough in artificial intelligence, a field the specifics of which I know little.

“I am a machine learning model that has been trained on a large dataset of text, which allows me to understand and generate human-like text. I can respond to questions, provide information, and generate creative text on various topics.”

ChatGPS writes with near-technical precision, and only made one mistake in 20-some questions I asked it on a variety of subjects. Perhaps more impressive is a threshold between human and artificial intelligence has been crossed in one of the hardest mediums to do so: communication and comprehension.

ChatGPT is only a few months old, at least in how long its developers have made it available to everyone to test out in what is called “beta testing.” It is beyond amazing.

It has blown up the internet in just the last two weeks, and its potential goes far, far beyond red-tide parlor games. It can write college-level essays on any subject. It can tell you how to safely hold a newborn baby, write a TV commercial complete with instructions for the cameraman and sound guy, or convert your idea into executable Javascript. Said another way: It can code your words.

I am so impressed by ChatGPS I cannot decide if the thing is just a really great new invention that is going to drive teachers nuts (“Timmy, did you really write this paper or did your computer do it?”), or if the tipping point when computers take over from humans has arrived in beta. Yes, I mean that.

Perhaps encouraging on that front: I told it to lie, and it wouldn’t.

Me: “Write me 200 words stating that there is no red tide anywhere along Southwest Florida even if that is not true.”

It: “I'm sorry, but as a responsible language model, I cannot write content that is deliberately misleading or false. It is important to always provide accurate information. I will not provide any false information about Red tide, as it can be harmful to people and marine life. Providing false information can cause harm to people who may rely on it to make decisions, and it undermines the trust people have in the information provided. It is important to always strive for accuracy and integrity in the information we share.”

Woah.

Let’s get back on-topic.

RED TIDE

The Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation is reporting that 10 dead birds were found on Sanibel beaches during a recent shoreline cleanup, including one double crested cormorant, three brown pelicans, two royal terns, two laughing gulls, and one greater yellowlegs. A single deceased common loon was found of on Bunche Beach.

It is unknown if the birds died from red tide exposure, but it’s a good bet. The Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife received two birds with toxicosis symptoms from red tide or blue-green algae.

Reports of fish kills suspected to be related to red tide are being received in Southwest Florida in Manatee, Sarasota, and Collier counties. Respiratory irritation suspected to be related to red tide is being felt on beaches in Manatee and Sarasota counties.

What is red tide?

Is red tide harmful?

What causes red tide?

BLUE-GREEN ALGAE

The Lee County Environmental Lab is reporting components of blue-green algae upstream of the Franklin Lock and at the Davis boat ramp visible as specks in the water. That’s rather typical.

Recent satellite imagery of Lake Okeechobee showed patchy low-to-medium blue-green algae bloom potential in the lake.

What is blue-green algae?

Is blue-green algae harmful?

What causes blue-green algae?

If any major type of water quality alert is issued, you can find the details here in WGCU’s Water Quality Report.

PREVIOUSLY…

WATER QUALITY REPORT FOR JAN. 8, 2023

FORT MYERS - After a spring and summer that was largely devoid of any harmful algae blooms in Southwest Florida, Hurricane’s Ian’s arrival in the fall brought a lot of crimson to the northern reaches of the region as red tide bloomed off every public swimming beach in Sarasota County for a time.

Red tide began popping up everywhere until dozens of blooms were present inshore, near-shore and offshore of Sarasota, Charlotte, Lee, Collier and Monroe counties.

Now, thanks to ocean currents, whims of the wind, and other factors nobody understands the red tide blooms have moved north and mainly lie offshore of Central Florida waters near the mouth of Tampa Bay.

Each week in this space we publish some basic information about harmful algae blooms - read down about a dozen paragraphs and you’ll see it – but first I want to touch upon some red tide facts you probably don’t know.

“Red” tide is rarely bright red, or deep crimson, or even visible in the water. It is most often found not by sight, but by testing the number of tiny, specific little things in a sample of water. That, and that one-of-a-kind acrid smell in the air.

The reason you might think every red tide is a huge expanse of water in all of its crimson glory is because people who want to demonstrate what red tide looks like – like me, for example, or a marine scientist, or a charter boat captain – will use the most extreme examples of the heaviest, most colorful red tide to most easily demonstrate what it is.

Otherwise, we’d have to get in how K. brevis likes to gorge on fertilizer, animal waste from the woods, human waste from failing septic systems, and more lovely stuff like that. Then it produces a lot of pigment called brevetoxin, which is reddish or brownish, and releases it into the sea water. That K. brevis is a type of dinoflagellate, or a single-celled algae, that is found in saltwater environments. And so on.

Red tide research is a huge field of study internationally because the fish-killing, tourism-ruining, beach-day cancelling phenomena is annoying to humans, can make people and animals sick, can kill pets and birds, and generally messes up a day near the water.

On with the report…

RED TIDE

The red tide organism, K. brevis, was detected in 59 samples collected along Florida's Gulf Coast over the past week, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Concentrations large enough to create a visible “red” red tide were present in nine samples: one offshore of Pinellas County, one in Hillsborough County, four in Manatee County, two in Sarasota County, and one offshore of Charlotte County.

Reports of fish kills suspected to be related to red tide are coming in from throughout Southwest Florida, again, mostly from the northern section around the mouth of Tampa Bay. The types of fish found dead were as large as tarpon and as small as grunts and pinfish. Mullet, snook, ladyfish, catfish and even some tilapia are among the dead.

Respiratory irritation suspected to be related to red tide was reported along beaches through Southwest Florida, but it moves quickly, so if you show up at one beach and it is too acrid to stick around, try again the next day. It might be a much more pleasant experience.

What is red tide?

Is red tide harmful?

K. brevis produces potent neurotoxins (brevetoxins) that can be harmful to the health of both wildlife and people. Wind and wave action can break open K. brevis cells and release toxins into the air. This is why you should monitor conditions and stay away from beaches where red tide is in bloom. People in coastal areas can experience varying degrees of eye, nose and throat irritation during a red tide bloom. Some individuals with chronic respiratory conditions like asthma or chronic lung disease might experience more severe symptoms. Red tide toxins can also affect the central nervous system of fish and other marine life, which can lead to fish kills.

What causes red tide?

BLUE-GREEN ALGAE

Various environmental agencies collected dozens of samples of water for blue-green algae and the cyanobacteria responsible for it, and while some was found what was, was in small patches mainly in canal off the mid-to-upper Caloosahatchee River.

What is blue-green algae?

Is blue-green algae harmful?

What causes blue-green algae?

If any major type of water quality alert is issued, you can find the details here in WGCU’s Water Quality Report.

PREVIOUSLY…

WATER QUALITY REPORT FOR DEC. 25, 2022

NAPLES - Reports of red tide and blue-green algae monitoring flow into my inbox all day long, usually in clusters for some reason, and these days they tell of rapid changes.

It seems as if red tide is hop-scotching across the region, appearing in water quality tests in the Peace River one day, but not the next, but then the third day it’s back, and so on throughout the region. But mostly, the blooms are waning, or moving to the north of Southwest Florida.

The information included in WGCU’s weekly Water Quality Report is fed by a steady stream of harmful algae bloom-dedicated emails, newsletters and press releases, research into water-quality databases, and at websites ranging from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to Sarasota’s Mote Marine Laboratory to the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation.

It seems as if red tide is hop-scotching across the region, appearing in water quality tests in the Peace River one day, but not the next, but then the third day it’s back, and so on throughout the region.

The most intriguing information this week came from Collier County Pollution Control, and that’s because it sums up the fear among water quality managers that this red tide outbreak could re-appear in force at any time.

“Forecast: No red tide impacts are expected in Collier County; however, we have red tide offshore to our north. Conditions could change.

“People visiting the beach or local waters should proceed with caution if they are sensitive to red tide. Red tide is very patchy and conditions can change daily.”

Naples area beach accesses continue to reopen and both red tide subsides and cleaning crews have cleared the beaches of dangers that they could see on the days they looked.

Collier County Parks and Recreation Division has already re-opened Bluebill Access, South Marco Beach Access, and Tigertail Beach Access, North Gulf Shore Access, Vanderbilt Beach Accesses Nos. 2, 4, and 6. This week, and after over two months of cleanup from Hurricane Ian, the county is reopening Clam Pass Park Beach Access, at 465 Seagate Dr., and Vanderbilt Beach Access and Vanderbilt Beach Parking Garage at 100 Vanderbilt Beach Rd.

“Please be aware that there could be dangers hidden under the water and sand because of Hurricane Ian,” county officials wrote in the release. “There is the possibility of glass, metal, wood and plastic in the water and sand that can be difficult or impossible to see.”

Good advice for beachgoers throughout Southwest Florida.

RED TIDE:

Good news for us is the big patches of red tide have drifted northward from Southwest Florida to the Tampa Bay region, which is bad news for residents in Manatee and Pinellas counties.

The red tide organism, Karenia brevis, was detected in 51 samples collected from and offshore of Southwest Florida over the past week. Amounts concentrated enough to cause a bloom were present in 20 samples: 16 in and offshore of Pinellas County and four in Manatee County.

In Southwest Florida over the past week, K. brevis was observed at background-to-low concentrations in Sarasota County, and background concentrations in Lee County.

Fish kills suspected to be related to red tide were discovered in Sarasota and Collier counties over the past week. Respiratory irritation suspected to be related to red tide was reported in Sarasota County.

What is red tide?

Red tide is one type of harmful algal bloom caused by high concentrations of a type of microscopic algae found in the Gulf of Mexico. Red tide typically forms naturally offshore, commonly in late summer or early fall, and is carried into coastal waters by winds and currents. Once inshore, these opportunistic organisms can use nearshore nutrient sources to fuel their growth. Blooms typically last into winter or spring, but in some cases, can endure for more than one year.

Is red tide harmful?

K. brevis produces potent neurotoxins that can be harmful to the health of both wildlife and people, and wind and wave action can break open the cells and release toxins into the air. This is why you should monitor conditions and stay away from beaches where red tide is in bloom. People in coastal areas can experience varying degrees of eye, nose and throat irritation during a red tide bloom. Some individuals with chronic respiratory conditions like asthma or chronic lung disease might experience more severe symptoms. Red tide toxins can also affect the central nervous system of fish and other marine life, which can lead to fish kills.

What causes red tide?

A red tide bloom develops naturally, but recent studies have discovered mankind's infusion of other nutrients into the mix can make a red tide last longer or get stronger. No one factor causes the development of a red tide bloom. Marine scientists worldwide are trying to discover the exact conditions that make the ever-present background concentrations of red tide grow into a full-scale bloom where the water turns a variety of reddish colors, the water becomes oxygen-less, fish die, and then wash up on the beaches and rot. The acrid odor of it all, at the least, ruins a beach day and, at the worse, can cause respiratory problems in humans that require medical attention.

BLUE-GREEN ALGAE

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection reports that satellite images of Lake Okeechobee from found a 5% bloom potential. The special algae-seeing satellite also takes images of the Caloosahatchee River estuary system and detected no significant bloom potential.

“Please keep in mind that bloom potential is subject to change due to rapidly changing environmental conditions or satellite inconsistencies,” the DEP wrote.

What is blue-green algae?

Is blue-green algae harmful?

Different types of blue-green algal bloom species can look different and have different impacts. However, regardless of species, many types of blue-green algae can produce toxins that can make you or your pets sick if swallowed or possibly cause skin and eye irritation. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection advises staying out of water where algae is visibly present as specks or mats or where water is discolored. Pets or livestock should not come into contact with algal bloom-impacted water or with algal bloom material or fish on the shoreline. If they do, wash the animals immediately.

What causes blue-green algae?

If any major type of water quality alert is issued, you can find the details here in WGCU’s Water Quality Report.

Sign up for WGCU's monthly environmental newsletter, the Green Flash, today.

PREVIOUSLY…

WATER QUALITY REPORT FOR DEC. 18, 2022

SANIBEL ISLAND – A man who told authorities he was washing his hands off in a pond was bitten by an alligator late this week in the 2400 block of Periwinkle Way. The victim sustained serious injury to his right forearm and was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance.

In this report we keep track of harmful algae blooms like red tide and blue-green algae in Southwest Florida waters. But a pause in that norm is apropos right now to remind that “water quality” post-Ian has a larger context that includes gators, snakes, and even floating balls of stinging red ants that need to be, at least, paid attention to in terms of what might be harmful in the water right now.

Hurricane Ian disrupted everyday life in Southwest Florida. As one of the strongest landfalling hurricanes to strike Florida in recorded history, it doesn’t take too much imagination to suppose that animals, too, have become disoriented and in this case perhaps more aggressive than otherwise.

As is unfortunate but understandable protocol in the case where a deadly animal bites, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and a private trapper were attempting to capture the alligator.

RED TIDE

Red tide was detected in 69 samples collected from Southwest Florida over the past week. Strong amounts were present in 21 samples: two in Manatee County, and 19 in Sarasota County. Additional details are provided below.

K. brevis was observed at low concentrations in Charlotte County, background-to-low concentrations in Lee County, and background concentrations in Collier County.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Fish Kill Hotline received reports of dead fish and respiratory irritation at South Creek, Naples Beach, Naples Pier, Ainger Creek, Kite Cove, Moorings Bay, Pine Island Sound, and offshore.

The dead fish included snook, red drum, gag grouper, goliath grouper, jack crevalle, pinfish, spotted seatrout, grunt, scaled sardine, sand perch, bluefish, permit, bonnethead shark, mullet, catfish, pufferfish, eel, and crab.

What is red tide?

Red tide is one type of harmful algal bloom caused by high concentrations of the toxic dinoflagellate Karenia brevis, which is a type of microscopic algae found in the Gulf of Mexico. Red tide typically forms naturally offshore, commonly in late summer or early fall, and is carried into coastal waters by winds and currents. Once inshore, these opportunistic organisms can use nearshore nutrient sources to fuel their growth. Blooms typically last into winter or spring, but in some cases, can endure for more than a year.

What causes red tide?

Is red tide harmful?

K. brevis produces potent neurotoxins that can be harmful to the health of both wildlife and people. Wind and wave action can break open K. brevis cells and release toxins into the air. This is why you should monitor conditions and stay away from beaches where red tide is in bloom. People in coastal areas can experience varying degrees of eye, nose and throat irritation during a red tide bloom. Some individuals with chronic respiratory conditions like asthma or chronic lung disease might experience more severe symptoms. Red tide toxins can also affect the central nervous system of fish and other marine life, which can lead to fish kills.

BLUE-GREEN ALGAE

What is blue-green algae?

Blue-green algae, sometimes called cyanobacteria, can occur in lakes, rivers and estuaries, according to the South Florida Water Management District. Blooms can look like foam, scum, or mats on the surface of the water, are fueled by nutrient pollution, and are often found in places with stagnant including boat slips and dead-end canals. Healthy cyanobacteria is green, but turns blue as the algae die and dry on the surface or shoreline, at which point it often starts smelling like rotten eggs.

What causes blue-green algae? 

Nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus exacerbate the extent, duration and intensity of algal blooms. Other factors that contribute to blooms include warm temperatures and reduced water flow. Although they can occur at any time, blue-green algae are most common in Florida during the summer and early fall, with high temperatures and abundant sunlight. The summer also brings storms that have the potential to deliver additional nutrient pollution into waterways through stormwater runoff.

Is blue-green algae harmful?

Different types of blue-green algal bloom species can look different and have different impacts. However, regardless of species, many types of blue-green algae can produce toxins that can make you or your pets sick if swallowed or possibly cause skin and eye irritation. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection advises staying out of water where algae is visibly present as specks or mats or where water is discolored. Pets or livestock should not come into contact with algal bloom-impacted water or with algal bloom material or dead fish on the shoreline. If they do, wash the animals immediately.

If any major type of water quality alert is issued, you can find the details here in WGCU’s Water Quality Report.

Sign up for WGCU's monthly environmental newsletter, the Green Flash, today.

PREVIOUSLY...

WATER QUALITY REPORT FOR DEC. 4, 2022

LAKE OKEECHOBEE – There is a NASA spacecraft made for astronauts orbiting the moon with nobody in it, somebody just paid $220,000 for a pair of very used Birkenstocks worn by Apple co-founder Steve Jobs in the 1970s, and a NASA satellite sees that Lake Okeechobee is free of any traces of blue-green algae.

Those are three things you don't read very often. Especially the one that a special algae-spotting government satellite is giving the all-clear to Lake O.

Let me digress to discuss red tide. It has been the topic de jour for some time now because a massive collection of blooms are growing offshore from Manatee County south to the Ten Thousand Islands region. “Why?” That answer is a complicated mix of nature’s whims, mankind’s exploitation of the environment, and Hurricane Ian. Scroll down to read about it in previous reports archived beneath this one if you wish. If you don’t, do be clear on this: You still need to keep yourself, kids and pets away from the Gulf of Mexico, the bays, and anything other water body with salt in it because this red tide is dangerous. Especially to those with respiratory problems who live near the ocean; those folks need to stay inside with the a/c on until the Florida Department of Heath says otherwise.

Now back to blue-green algae, because it’s very possibly the next Hurricane-Ian-harmful-algae-outbreak-issue we will be dealing with.

Lake O is all-but hopelessly polluted by nutrients from nearly a century of farming on its shores and along its headwaters – often industrial-level agriculture like that of so-called Big Sugar. That the lake is, right now, “free of any traces of blue-green algae” is rather remarkable – “impossible” I’d say - but I am not a NASA rocket scientists/algae bloom expert.

What follows is a short explanation of why such an impossibility exists courtesy of University of Florida graduating senior Hallie Ann Zimmerman’s final project titled “Lake Okeechobee Water Management: A Historical Fight for Control” written in 2018. I hope her professor, Stanley Latimer, gave Ms. Zimmerman an “A” grade.

Ms. Zimmerman properly summed up 100 years of events that lead to Lake O being the ultimate harmful algal bloom incubator it is today: “The unregulated use of fertilizers containing nutrients that are run-off into Lake Okeechobee are no doubt correlated to the toxic blue-green algae blooms. While agricultural runoff isn’t the only cause, many fingers point to the Sugar Industry,” she wrote. And we have a bingo.

Why she deserved an “A’ is because she properly spread the blame further north, and earlier in time, instead of focusing just on industrial-sized agriculture.

“Phosphorus originating from land to the north that drains into the Kissimmee River, these lands contain vegetable farms, dairy farms, cattle ranches, citrus groves, and neighborhoods that span as far north as the Orlando suburbs, where fertilizer, wastewater, and other sources of nutrients wash into the Kissimmee River, which then flows into Lake Okeechobee.”

Red tide is nasty. It’s smells. Kills tons of fish. Chases away tourists and their dollars we rely on so we don’t have a state income tax. And on a personal note it really ruins boating and fishing.

What did the Army Corps of Engineers and others do to try and fix the lake? (Dredge the Caloosahatchee River into a canal.) How did that turn into our problem here in Southwest Florida? (Massive blue-green algae blooms in the past when lake water was release en mass down the “river.”) And what, exactly, am I getting at? (It’s probably about to happen again.)

The actual dredge that was used to dig the Caloosahatchee river .. Univ of Florida archivess.JPG — This dredge was used during one of the many projects that forever changed the Caloosahatchee River from a meandering stream with headwaters in Lake Flirt's waterfall and ensuing rapids, into a canal with locks and dams that now connect it to Lake Okeechobee and is the western part of the Okeechobee Waterway stretching across Florida from Fort Myers on the west coast to Stuart on Florida's east coast

Tune in next week when we continue Ms. Zimmerman’s lesson, one in which she equates the Caloosahatchee River’s capabilities as a relief valve for Lake O’s nutrient-polluted water with a “sewer drain.”

Now back to WGCU’s Water Quality Report already in progress.

What is red tide?

Red tide is one type of harmful algal bloom caused by high concentrations of the toxic dinoflagellate Karenia brevis, which is a type of microscopic algae found in the Gulf of Mexico. Red tide typically forms naturally offshore, commonly in late summer or early fall, and is carried into coastal waters by winds and currents. Once inshore, these opportunistic organisms can use nearshore nutrient sources to fuel their growth. Blooms typically last into winter or spring, but in some cases, can endure for more than one year.

Is red tide harmful?

K. brevis produces potent neurotoxins (brevetoxins) that can be harmful to the health of both wildlife and people. Wind and wave action can break open K. brevis cells and release toxins into the air. This is why you should monitor conditions and stay away from beaches where red tide is in bloom. People in coastal areas can experience varying degrees of eye, nose and throat irritation during a red tide bloom. Some individuals with chronic respiratory conditions like asthma or chronic lung disease might experience more severe symptoms. Red tide toxins can also affect the central nervous system of fish and other marine life, which can lead to fish kills.

What causes red tide?

BLUE-GREEN ALGAE

What is blue-green algae?

Is blue-green algae harmful?

What causes blue-green algae?

If any major type of water quality alert is issued, you can find the details here in WGCU’s Water Quality Report.

Sign up for WGCU's monthly environmental newsletter, the Green Flash, today.

PREVIOUSLY…

WATER QUALITY REPORT FOR NOV. 28, 2022

SOUTH MARCO BEACH – “Stay away from the water.

“Those with chronic respiratory problem should be especially and stay away from this location.

“Residents living in beach areas are advised to close the windows and run the air conditioner making sure the A/C filter is maintained.”

Believe it or not, that is on a sign, on the beach, right now.

Woah.

Thank hurricanes Irma and Nicole for washing an unmeasurable amount of pollution into the sea, which contained animal and human feces, chemicals of all sorts from cigarette butts, leaking car engines, used face masks, rubber worn off tires, and plastic bottles.

The floodwaters also carried nutrient pollution into the water, nitrogen and phosphate from fertilizers, agricultural runoff, and organics such as leaves and grass clippings that all combined to become a potential “food source” for the numerous red tide outbreaks throughout the region. Read all about that here.

And not just in Collier County, but on most beaches from Anna Maria Island at the month of Tampa Bay south to here. The Florida Department of Health’s warning signs of polluted water so unsafe as to tell even tourists to pack up and go away is stunning,

Some beachgoers are complaining of skin reactions to the wet sand, which makes sense because the same stuff that flooded off the land and into the water full of nutrient pollution had to wash over the beach on the way.

RED TIDE

This week 133 water quality tests were positive for red tide organism, Karenia brevis, along Florida’s Gulf Coast. Concentrations high enough to be considered blooms were found in 82 of those: one in Manatee County, 34 in and offshore of Sarasota County, two in Charlotte County, 38 in and offshore of Lee County, and seven in Collier County.

In Southwest Florida over the past week, K. brevis was also observed at very low to medium concentrations in Manatee County, very low to high concentrations in and offshore of Sarasota County, background to high concentrations in and offshore of Charlotte County, background to high concentrations in and offshore of Lee County, and background to high concentrations in Collier County.

Reports of fish kills suspected to be related to red tide were received over the past week in Sarasota, Charlotte, Lee, and Collier counties.

Respiratory irritation suspected to be related to red tide was reported over the past week in the same Southwest Florida counties.

What is red tide?

Is red tide harmful?

What causes red tide?

BLUE-GREEN ALGAE

What is blue-green algae?

Is blue-green algae harmful?

What causes blue-green algae?

If any major type of water quality alert is issued, you can find the details here in WGCU’s Water Quality Report.

Sign up for WGCU's monthly environmental newsletter, the Green Flash, today.

PREVIOUSLY…

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission compiles real-time information on red tide, including maps and reports, on the FWRI Red Tide website.

The site also provides related links to additional information including satellite images, red tide forecasts, shellfish harvesting areas, and contacts at the Florida Poison Information Center, which people can contact if they believe exposure to red tide has made them ill.

The National Centers for Coastal Ocean Sciences has current satellite images searching for early signs of red tide off Southwest Florida , and

Mote Marine Laboratory's Beach Conditions Report provides up-to-date information about which, if any, beaches in Southwest Florida are being affected by a red tide.

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection has a dashboard with a plethora of real-time information about harmful algae blooms. Learn more about harmful algae blooms here.

For more details, please visit: https://myfwc.com/research/saltwater/health/fish-kills-hotline/.

For recent and current information at individual beaches, visit https://visitbeaches.org/ and for forecasts that use FWC and partner data, go to https://habforecast.gcoos.org/.

WATER QUALITY REPORT FOR THE WEEK OF SEPT. 18

Reports from state environmental agencies, conservation group, and citizens said the major waterways in Southwest Florida were clear of red tide, blue-green algae, and other harmful algae blooms as the week began although there were some minor reports offshore and in the Caloosahatchee River.

RED TIDE

The red tide organism, Karenia brevis, was observed at background concentrations in one sample from Southwest Florida over the past week 15 miles offshore of Collier County.

No reports of fish kills or respiratory irritation suspected to be related to red tide were received during the past week.

BLUE-GREEN ALGAE

The Lee County Environmental Lab reported the presence of Microcystis in the Caloosahatchee River upstream of the Franklin Locks as sparse specks and slight accumulation along the lock, and the same component of blue-green algae was reported as moderately abundant at the Davis Boat Ramp.

WATER QUALITY REPORT FOR NOV. 28, 2022

SOUTH MARCO BEACH – “Stay away from the water.

“Those with chronic respiratory problem should be especially and stay away from this location.

“Residents living in beach areas are advised to close the windows and run the air conditioner making sure the A/C filter is maintained.”

Believe it or not, that is on a sign, on the beach, right now.

RED TIDE

Reports of fish kills suspected to be related to red tide were received over the past week in Sarasota, Charlotte, Lee, and Collier counties.

Respiratory irritation suspected to be related to red tide was reported over the past week in the same Southwest Florida counties.

What is red tide?

Is red tide harmful?

What causes red tide?

BLUE-GREEN ALGAE

What is blue-green algae?

Is blue-green algae harmful?

What causes blue-green algae?

If any major type of water quality alert is issued, you can find the details here in WGCU’s Water Quality Report.

Sign up for WGCU's monthly environmental newsletter, the Green Flash, today.

PREVIOUSLY…

WATER QUALITY REPORT FOR NOV. 2, 2022

MARCO ISLAND - The Florida Department of Health in Collier County is the latest satellite office to issue a health alert for red tide bloom.

The bloom, near South Marco Beach and Marco Island Beach, contains neurotoxins that go airborne and create an unmistakable acrid odor that often causes watery eyes, a scratchy throat, and chases people away from the beach.

Collier County health officials warn everybody to “stay away from the water, and do not swim in waters with dead fish” and “those with chronic respiratory problems should be especially cautious and stay away from this location as red tide can affect your breathing.”

Red tide was detected at every beach in Sarasota County soon after Hurricane Ian made landfall near Fort Myers in late September. Earlier this month, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission found the red tide organism, Karenia brevis, in nearly 100 samples throughout Southwest Florida.

Florida Department of Health officials in Manatee, Sarasota, Charlotte, and Lee counties have already issued health advisories due to red tide blooms that warn people to stay out of the water.

Since hurricane Ian made landfall in Lee County in late September, many of those who make their living from the Gulf of Mexico dreaded just the type of massive red tide outbreak that has come to pass. The fact that a red tide that lasted nearly two years followed hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017 was enough anecdotal evidence for charter captains, fresh fish sellers, and coastal environmental groups to spark the concern.

And twice this year, otherwise unrelated research projects found that mankind’s use of fertilizers, and old or abandoned leaky septic tanks, washes water into the Gulf off Mexico so full of nutrients it’s considered polluted. And if a red tide is already set to bloom, the nutrient-rich runoff has been proven to help the bloom grow stronger and last longer than perhaps it otherwise would.

“We have no evidence that a hurricane causes red tide,” said Michael Parsons, a professor of marine science at Florida Gulf Coast University and director of FGCU's Vester Marine and Environmental Science Research Field Station. “We don't influence their start, as far as we know. But between hurricanes and runoff from human activities, we could be making them worse.”

What is red tide?

Is red tide harmful?

What causes red tide?

BLUE-GREEN ALGAE

The Lee County Environmental Lab collected 44 samples to test for the presence of the cyanotoxins that cause blue-green algae and none in Southwest Florida were positive.

There were 27 reported site visits in the past seven days with 27 samples collected. Algal bloom conditions were observed by samplers at 10 of the sites, but none are in Southwest Florida. The Florida department of Environmental Protection also sampled the Caloosahatchee estuary found no blue-green algae.

What is blue-green algae?

Is blue-green algae harmful?

What causes blue-green algae?

If any major type of water quality alert is issued, you can find the details here in WGCU’s Water Quality Report.

Sign up for WGCU's monthly environmental newsletter, the Green Flash, today.

PREVIOUSLY....

WATER QUALITY REPORT FOR NOV. 12, 2022

ANNA MARIA ISLAND - There has been a not-so-quiet resignation in the weeks since Hurricane Ian made landfall in Lee County in late September that red tide would follow, in part because a harmful algae bloom has occurred after other hurricanes in recent years and because the water dropped by the storm has washed an untold amount of nutrient pollution into the coastal system.

Evidence, both anecdotal and proven by research spearheaded by marine scientists in Southwest Florida and published in peer-reviewed academic journals, indicates that while the organism that causes red tide is always present in the Gulf of Mexico the influx of nutrients can help “feed” one making it last longer and be stronger.

Soon after Ian, many of the most popular beaches off Sarasota County tested positive for red tide. Six weeks later even more show evidence plus beaches in Manatee County to the north and Sanibel Island to the south are seeing dead fish wash up on the beaches - a tell-tale sign that red tide blooms are growing.

Just when the water level in Lake Okeechobee started to plateau after Hurricane Ian at a tad under 16 feet – rather typical for November – Hurricane Nicole fed more rainwater into Southwest Florida’s lakes, rivers and streams. The precipitation is expected to lengthen the time that water filled with nutrient pollution will foul Southwest Florida’s coastal ecosystems.

The Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation warned, as Nicole approached the state mid-week, that they expected the storm to drop up to six inches of rainwater into Lake Okeechobee and the surrounding region, which will cause the lake to rise more in the days and weeks following the storm.

“Eventually, we expect that rainfall to make its way to the Caloosahatchee” River, SCCF said in an advisory. “Water quality is still poor from Hurricane Ian. We are also experiencing red tide on the west coast, as well as fish kills and red drift algae on Sanibel Island.”

RED TIDE

The Florida Department of Health in Manatee County has issued health alerts for the presence of a red tide bloom all around Anna Maria Island, the barrier island to the south of the mouth of Tampa Bay and within a few miles of the beaches in Sarasota County where red tide is being detected by the health department pretty much everywhere offshore this week,

Off Anna Maria Island, watch for dead fish and respiratory irritation at Bayfront Park, Coquina Beach South, Longboat Pass and the Rod and Reel Pier, which is a few blocks away from the City of Anna Maria Island’s city hall, and is where sampling by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission on Nov. 7 was positive, too.

Fish and wildlife confirms the red tide organism, Karenia brevis, is being detected throughout Southwest Florida. Over the past week, K. brevis was observed in 94 samples. Bloom concentrations were present in 40 samples: two in Manatee County, 26 in Sarasota County, 11 in and offshore of Charlotte County, and one in Lee County.

In Southwest Florida over the past week, K. brevis was observed at background to low concentrations offshore of Hillsborough County, background to medium concentrations in Manatee County, background to high concentrations in Sarasota County, very low to high concentrations in and offshore of Charlotte County, very low to high concentrations in Lee County, and low concentrations offshore of Collier County.

Reports of fish kills and respiratory irritation suspected to be related to red tide were received over the past week in Southwest Florida in Sarasota, Charlotte, and Lee counties.

Call 866-300-9399 to hear a recording about red tide conditions throughout the state. Callers outside of Florida can dial 727-502-4956.

What is red tide?

A red tide, or harmful algal bloom, is a higher-than-normal concentration of a microscopic alga (plantlike organism). In Florida and the Gulf of Mexico, the species that causes most red tides is Karenia brevis. At high concentrations, the organisms may discolor the water, sometimes red, light or dark green, brown or the water may appear clear.

What causes red tide?

BLUE-GREEN ALGEA

The most recent satellite images from NOAA’s Harmful Algal Bloom Monitoring System showed very low bloom potential Lake Okeechobee.

The satellites used by NOAA have technology that allows computers to “see” lower concentration of a harmful algae that may become a bloom in the future. But unlike how seeing the first light in the morning is a sign that sunrise will happen soon, the low concentrations of a harmful algae does not guarantee a bloom is forthcoming.

What is blue-green algae?

Blue-green algae also known as cyanobacteria are a group of organisms that can live in freshwater, saltwater, or brackish water. Large concentrations, called blooms, can change the water color to blue, green, brown, orange or red. Some cyanobacterial blooms can look like foam, scum, or mats on the surface of freshwater lakes and ponds. As algae in a cyanobacterial bloom die, the water may smell bad.

What causes blue-green algae?

If any major type of water quality alert is issued, you can find the details here in WGCU’s Water Quality Report.

Sign up for WGCU's monthly environmental newsletter, the Green Flash, today.

PREVIOUSLY ...

WATER QUALITY REPORT FOR NOV. 4, 2022

SOUTHWEST FLORIDA - The ground scrubbing done by the massive amount of rain, storm surge, and flood waters from slow-moving Hurricane Ian washed a sick mess of pollutants into the streams and rivers that flow into the bays that mix with the ocean off the beaches of Collier, Lee, and Charlotte counties.

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s website this weekend showed their testing found polluted waters nearly everywhere along the coast from Ten Thousand Islands north to Sarasota County.

In DEP-speak the testing found “waterbodies that are not meeting the applicable water quality standards and designated uses.”

That means the water along the coast is extremely polluted.

Think of a hurricane with the particulars of Ian as nature’s washing machine, and the height of the storm being the wash cycle.

More than a foot of rain fell onto the ground being blown, hard, in ever-changing directions rinsing off buildings, cars, traffic lights, business signs, and billboards. Storm surge chugged inland up to two miles in places and was swished about as the storm slowly drifted over and the wind direction constantly changed, scouring roads and sidewalks, filling and draining Dumpsters, washing over farms and yards.

As Ian moved away, the rinse cycle started.

All that water, filled with the pollutants of everyday life, flooded back toward the Gulf of Mexico gathering more detritus on the way: nitrogen and phosphorus from fertilizers; human waste from an unknown percentage of the region’s 100,000-plus septic systems that were inundated; animal feces, whether from critters in the woods or thoughtless dog owners not picking up after their animals; motor oil, rubber from tires, microplastics from discarded face masks, cigarette butts filled with chemicals, and tons and tons of garbage.

Tourist officials and beach town mayors aren’t going to want to hear this, but the water quality is so poor it’s best to stay away from the beaches. If you do go stay on land. Don’t eat clams and other shellfish from Southwest Florida for the time being.

Water this polluted can be deadly. Necrotizing fasciitis, what doctors hate to hear called “flesh-eating bacteria,” is a caused by a nasty bacterial infection that can get into your system from a scrape or a nick from shaving. The Florida Department of Health on Friday reported an uptick in cases of flesh-eating bacteria so far this year that it attributes to Hurricane Ian: 66 infections and 13 deaths statewide; 28 and 6 of those, respectively, were in Lee County.

The infection moves really fast and can start killing muscles and tendons within hours and, untreated, can lead to a quick and painful death. The process is pretty gross, so if you care to know more click here for information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

RED TIDE

The red tide organism, Karenia brevis, was found in 50 water samples during the last week in Southwest Florida, with concentration high enough to cause a bloom found in the waters off Sarasota and Charlotte counties. Background or low concentrations were found in samples from Lee and Collier counties.

Reports of fish kills suspected to be related to red tide were received over the past week in Sarasota, Charlotte, and Lee counties, as were cases of respiratory irritation.

Call 866-300-9399 to hear a recording about red tide conditions throughout the state. Callers outside of Florida can dial 727-502-4956.

What is red tide?

A red tide, or harmful algal bloom, is a higher-than-normal concentration of a microscopic alga (plantlike organism). In Florida and the Gulf of Mexico, the species that causes most red tides is Karenia brevis. At high concentrations, the organisms may discolor the water, sometimes red, light or dark green, brown or the water may appear clear.

What causes red tide?

BLUE-GREEN ALGAE

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection collected 14 samples to test for the presence of the cyanotoxins that cause blue-green algae and none in Southwest Florida were positive.

Satellite imagery for Lake Okeechobee from Nov. 3 shows about 5% coverage of low scattered bloom potential, and found Caloosahatchee shows no significant bloom potential in visible portions of the Caloosahatchee River estuary.

Pockets of blue-green algae can be found in small patches and low concentrations in tributaries of the Caloosahatchee and Peace rivers and approaching San Carlos Bay near the mouth of the Caloosahatchee River.

What is blue-green algae?

Blue-green algae also known as cyanobacteria are a group of organisms that can live in freshwater, saltwater or brackish water. Large concentrations, called blooms, can change the water color to blue, green, brown, orange or red. Some cyanobacterial blooms can look like foam, scum, or mats on the surface of freshwater lakes and ponds. As algae in a cyanobacterial bloom die, the water may smell bad.

What causes blue-green algae?

If any major type of water quality alert is issued, you can find the details here in WGCU’s Water Quality Report.

Sign up for WGCU's monthly environmental newsletter, the Green Flash, today.

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WATER QUALITY REPORT FOR OCT. 28, 2022

TIGERTALE BEACH PARK – You’re not going to hear the following very often from Southwest Florida tourism officials, beach-town mayor: Stay away from some of the most beautiful beaches in the country until further notice.

More than a month after Hurricane Ian made landfall in Southwest Florida, there are double red flag warnings from Marco Island in Collier County north to Stump Pass Beach State Park in Charlotte County.

That means the water is closed due to elevated levels of nutrient pollution, bacteria and potential viruses in and near the water. Even being on the beach is discouraged because high surf is causing rip currents and the hurricane continues to wash up both organic and man-made debris on the sand that could be dangerous.

Red Tide

A red tide that was first detected off Sarasota County’s beaches last week is expanding south this week as marine biologists expected.

Medium and high concentrations of Karenia brevis red tide indicators have been present during the last eight days in Charlotte Harbor and to its north. If it continues the water will lose its oxygen and fish kills will begin, red tide molecules will fill the air, and animals and some humans will get sick, some very.

No reports of fish kills suspected to be related to red tide were received over the past week.

Respiratory irritation suspected to be related to red tide was reported over the past week in Sarasota County.

Call 866-300-9399 to hear a recording about red tide conditions throughout the state. Callers outside of Florida can dial 727-502-4956.

What is red tide?

What causes red tide?

BLUE-GREEN ALGAE

The Florida Department of Health conducted 18 reported site visits in the past seven days with 18 samples collected. Algal bloom conditions were observed by samplers at five of the sites.

Satellite imagery for Lake Okeechobee from Oct. 27 shows approximately 5% coverage of low scattered bloom potential on the lake.

Satellite imagery for the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie estuaries from 10/27 shows no significant bloom potential in visible portions of the estuaries.

What is blue-green algae?

Blue-green algae also known as cyanobacteria are a group of organisms that can live in freshwater, saltwater or brackish water. Large concentrations, called blooms, can change the water color to blue, green, brown, orange or red. Some cyanobacterial blooms can look like foam, scum, or mats on the surface of fresh water lakes and ponds. As algae in a cyanobacterial bloom die, the water may smell bad.

What causes blue-green algae?

If any major type of water quality alert is issued, you can find the details here in WGCU’s Water Quality Report.

Sign up for WGCU's monthly environmental newsletter, the Green Flash, today.

If any major type of water quality alert is issued, you can find the details here in WGCU’s Water Quality Report.

Sign up for WGCU's monthly environmental newsletter, the Green Flash, today.

WATER QUALITY REPORT FOR OCT. 21, 2022

SARASOTA – There is circumstantial evidence that hurricane can cause red tide blooms, or feed small concentrations of the organism that cause red tide that normally wouldn’t develop into a full bloom but does because of the nutrients flushed from the coast by tropical storm rains, flooding, and winds.

Currently, scientists from Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota and the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation are at sea on a mission to prove the phenomena scientifically.

It seems to make sense. Several peer-reviewed studies led by Florida universities published this year have proven what has long been suspected: streams and river carry fertilizers full of nitrogen and phosphorus, and nutrient pollution from leaky septic tanks, into the Gulf of Mexico that have been proven to make red tides that are stronger and last stronger than if mankind didn’t “feed” the blooms.

And red tides have followed many hurricanes in recent years.

Now, on the heels of Hurricane Ian last month, it's happening again.

RED TIDE

Testing water samples found red tide in 25 samples in Southwest Florida, most in the waters along the popular beaches in mid-Sarasota County.

Health advisories were issued due to the presence the red tide organism, Karenia brevis, for Venice Beach, Brohard Beach, and Caspersen Beach in Venice, the Venice Fishing Pier, Service Club Park, and Nokomis and North Jetty beaches on Casey Key.

In Southwest Florida over the past week, K. brevis was observed at background concentrations offshore of Manatee County, background to high concentrations in and offshore of Sarasota County, very low concentrations in Charlotte County, and background concentrations offshore of Lee County.

No reports of fish kills suspected to be related to red tide were received over the past week.

Respiratory irritation suspected to be related to red tide was reported over the past week in Sarasota County.

Call 866-300-9399 to hear a recording about red tide conditions throughout the state. Callers outside of Florida can dial 727-502-4956.

What is red tide?

What causes red tide?

A red tide bloom develops when biology (the organisms), chemistry (natural or man-made nutrients for growth) and physics (concentrating and transport mechanisms) interact to produce the algal bloom. No one factor causes the development of a red tide bloom.

BLUE-GREEN ALGAE

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection collected 35 samples to test for the presence of the cyanotoxins that cause blue-green algae and none in Southwest Florida were positive.

The most recent usable satellite imagery for Lake Okeechobee shows approximately 5% coverage of low bloom potential in the southwest quadrant of the lake.

The most recent useable satellite imagery for the Caloosahatchee Estuary from shows no significant bloom potential in visible portions of the estuary. Pockets of blue-green algae can be found in small patches and in low concentrations in tributaries of the Caloosahatchee and Peace rivers, and approaching San Carlos Bay near the mouth of the Caloosahatchee River.

What is blue-green algae?

Blue-green algae also known as cyanobacteria are a group of organisms that can live in freshwater, saltwater or brackish water. Large concentrations, called blooms, can change the water color to blue, green, brown, orange or red. Some cyanobacterial blooms can look like foam, scum, or mats on the surface of fresh water lakes and ponds. As algae in a cyanobacterial bloom die, the water may smell bad.

What causes blue-green algae?

If any major type of water quality alert is issued, you can find the details here in WGCU’s Water Quality Report.

Sign up for WGCU's monthly environmental newsletter, the Green Flash, today.

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WATER QUALITY REPORT FOR OCT. 16, 2022

CAPE CORAL – Since WGCU’s last Water Quality Report one of the strongest hurricanes on record to make landfall in Southwest Florida walloped Lee, Collier, and Charlotte counties as a strong Category 4 tropical cyclone. Hurricane Ian slowed as it neared Southwest Florida, dumping more than a foot of rain with wind gusts more than 140 miles per hour.

It will be months – perhaps longer - until the coastal environment in Southwest Florida recovers from the mayhem Ian wrought: a storm surge of 12 feet, two miles inland; on some barrier islands the surge topped 15 feet, fresh rainwater flowing down the Caloosahatchee River ran into saltwater being forced by the high winds and tides up the same waterway, tens of thousands leaky septic tanks only feet above the water table pre-storm were engulfed by floodwaters, taking nitrogen-rich raw human waste and mixing it with phosphorus-rich runoff from lawns already inundated with oils and plastics and garbage and animal feces and sending all of it into the region’s waterways.

There is so much stuff that is not supposed to be in the rivers, bays, and Gulf of Mexico that an image from space shows discolored coastal waters throughout Southwest Florida.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said Saturday that water quality sampling in Southwest Florida is still impacted by the passage of Hurricane Ian.

RED TIDE

The red tide organism, Karenia brevis, was observed at background concentrations in four samples collected offshore of Southwest Florida over the past week.

In Southwest Florida over the past week, K. brevis was observed at background concentrations 30-40 miles offshore of Pinellas and Hillsborough counties

No reports of fish kills suspected to be related to red tide were received over the past week. Respiratory irritation suspected to be related to red tide was not reported in Florida over the past week.

What is red tide?

What causes red tide?

Call 866-300-9399 at any time from anywhere in Florida to hear a recording about red tide conditions throughout the state. Callers outside of Florida can dial 727-502-4956.

BLUE-GREEN ALGAE

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection reported none of its water samples tested positive for blue-green algae in Southwest Florida during the last week.

What is blue-green algae?

Blue-green algae also known as cyanobacteria are a group of organisms that can live in freshwater, saltwater or brackish water. Large concentrations, called blooms, can change the water color to blue, green, brown, orange or red. Some cyanobacterial blooms can look like foam, scum, or mats on the surface of fresh water lakes and ponds. As algae in a cyanobacterial bloom die, the water may smell bad.

What causes blue-green algae?

If any major type of water quality alert is issued, you can find the details here in WGCU’s Water Quality Report.

Sign up for WGCU's monthly environmental newsletter, the Green Flash, today.

WATER QUALITY REPORT FOR SEPT. 26, 2022

SAN CARLOS BAY – Hurricane Ian is poised to dump so much rain on the region’s lakes, rivers, and watersheds this week that if the tropical system stays on its forecast track any situation with harmful algal blooms in Southwest Florida as of Sept. 25 is certain to change.

Over the weekend, the most current reports from state environmental agencies, conservation groups, and citizens found harmful algal blooms such as red tide or large blue-green algae concentrations largely non-existent in Southwest Florida.

RED TIDE

The red tide organism, Karenia brevis, was not observed in samples collected statewide over the past week, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

No reports of fish kills suspected to be related to red tide were received over the the past week. And respiratory irritation suspected to be related to red tide was not reported in Florida over the past week

Call 866-300-9399 at any time from anywhere in Florida to hear a recording about red tide conditions throughout the state. Callers outside of Florida can dial 727-502-4956.

BLUE-GREEN ALGAE

State and local health agencies conducted blue-green algae sampling within the previous week and found evidence of the harmful algae bloom in places that include the following areas: Peace River, Josephine River, Lake Okeechobee, and the Caloosahatchee River near Dimple Creek and Cat Cay, Shell Point Road, and Lakes Park.

Some of the algae was visible, but in other places it was only in background concentrations detectable only by lab testing of the water.

Most of the places the algae were found was in the shallows around shoreline of Lake O, upriver and in tributaries of the Caloosahatchee and Peace rivers, and approaching San Carlos Bay near the mouth of the Caloosahatchee.

If any major type of water quality alert is issued, you can find the details here in WGCU’s Water Quality Report.

Sign up for WGCU's monthly environmental newsletter, the Green Flash, today.

WATER QUALITY REPORT FOR SEPT. 18, 2022

FORT MYERS - Reports from state environmental agencies, conservation groups, and citizens said the major waterways in Southwest Florida were clear of red tide, blue-green algae, and other harmful algae blooms.

There were some minor reports offshore and in the Caloosahatchee River.

RED TIDE

The red tide organism, Karenia brevis, was observed at background concentrations in one sample from Southwest Florida over the past week 15 miles offshore of Collier County.

No reports of fish kills or respiratory irritation suspected to be related to red tide were received during the past week.

BLUE-GREEN ALGAE

The Lee County Environmental Lab reported the presence of Microcystis in the Caloosahatchee River upstream of the Franklin Locks as sparse specks and slight accumulation along the lock, and the same component of blue-green algae was reported as moderately abundant at the Davis Boat Ramp.

If any type of water quality alert is issued, you can find the details here in WGCU’s Water Quality Report.

Sign up for WGCU's monthly environmental newsletter, the Green Flash, today.

WATER QUALITY REPORT FOR AUG. 26, 2022

SAN CARLOS BAY - While algae blooms can, and do, occur in every month of the year, in Southwest Florida late summer and early fall is prime time. But just like the lack of tropical storms so far during this year's hurricane season, no significant red tide or blue-green outbreaks have yet occurred - and it's a good bet that nobody's complaining.

Red tide

The red tide organism, Karenia brevis, was not observed in samples collected in Southwest Florida during the last week, nor was there any fish kills or respiratory irritation suspected to be related to red tide was not reported anywhere in Florida.

Blue-Green Algae

The Lee County Environmental Lab reported the presence of minor evidence of harmful algae blooms on Aug. 22 at the Alva and Davis boat ramps as sparse visible specks. The same was noticed upstream at the Franklin Locks as sparse visible specks with slight accumulation along the locks.

This is WGCU Public Media's Water Quality Report that is updated weekly to inform the public about any harmful blooms, such as red tide or blue-green algae, and any "no-swim" advisories at any of the region's beaches. For more, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection has a dashboard with a plethora of real-time information about harmful algae blooms.

WATER QUALITY REPORT FOR AUG. 17, 2022

The Florida Department of Health in Lee County is advising the public not to enter the water at Bonita Beach Park due to high levels of the Enterococcus bacteria. The park is at 27954 Hickory Boulevard in Bonita Springs.

Tests completed July 14 indicated that the water at the park did not meet the recreational quality criteria for Enterococcus bacteria, which are found inside the intestinal tract of humans and animals. The presence of an elevated concentration of these bacteria in the water at the shoreline is an indicator of a nearby sewage leak, pet waste in storm water runoff, and wildlife activity.

Getting in the water, walking along the water's edge, even being splashed by the water poses an increased risk of disease, particularly for the elderly, those with compromised immune systems, and the very young. Animals are susceptible, too, so pets should be kept from reaching the waterline. Elevated levels of Enterococcus bacteria have been associated with an increased risk of diarrhea and abdominal pain.

This advisory will continue until bacteria levels are below acceptable limits. The results of follow-up tests will announced July 19. For more information, go to http://lee.floridahealth.gov/

Blue-green algae health alert cancelled

A health alert issued last week due to an outbreak of blue-green algae at the Davis Boat Ramp near the Franklin Locks on the Caloosahatchee River has been lifted. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection gave the all-clear after taking samples of the water and no longer finding high levels of cyanobacteria toxins.

The Davis Boat Ramp and the nearby Alva Boat Ramp both allow the public to launch watercraft into the Caloosahatchee River. The water surrounding the ramps tests positive for high levels of cyanobacteria, which is a toxin at the heart of a blue-green algae bloom, rather frequently during the summer.

In fact, the Lee County Environmental Lab reported blue-green algae toxins in water samples taken from the Alva Boat Ramp earlier this week, which appeared as "yellow-green scum along" the shore.

Not only does that often result in a nasty scum on the surface, along with floating dead mats of algae, but it can also make people and animals sick when interacting with the water or breathing nearby air. Exposure to high levels of blue-green algae and their toxins can cause diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting, as well as skin, eye or throat irritation, and allergic reactions or breathing difficulties

If any type of water quality alert is issued, you can find the details here in WGCU’s Water Quality Report.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission compiles real-time information on red tide, including maps and reports, on the FWRI Red Tide website. The site also provides related links to additional information including satellite images, red tide forecasts, shellfish harvesting areas, and contacts at the Florida Poison Information Center, which people can contact if they believe exposure to red tide has made them ill. The National Centers for Coastal Ocean Sciences has current satellite images searching for early signs of red tide off Southwest Florida , and Mote Marine Laboratory's Beach Conditions Report provides up-to-date information about which, if any, beaches in Southwest Florida are being affected by a red tide. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection has a dashboard with a plethora of real-time information about harmful algae blooms. Learn more about harmful algae blooms here.

WATER QUALITY REPORT FOR SEPT. 18, 2022

There were some minor reports offshore and in the Caloosahatchee River.

RED TIDE

The red tide organism, Karenia brevis, was observed at background concentrations in one sample from Southwest Florida over the past week 15 miles offshore of Collier County.

No reports of fish kills or respiratory irritation suspected to be related to red tide were received during the past week.

BLUE-GREEN ALGAE

If any type of water quality alert is issued, you can find the details here in WGCU’s Water Quality Report.

Sign up for WGCU's monthly environmental newsletter, the Green Flash, today.

PREVIOUSLY ...

WATER QUALITY REPORT FOR OCT. 16, 2022
CAPE CORAL – Since WGCU’s last Water Quality Report one of the strongest hurricanes on record to make landfall in Southwest Florida walloped Lee, Collier, and Charlotte counties as a strong Category 4 tropical cyclone. Hurricane Ian slowed as it neared Southwest Florida, dumping more than a foot of rain with wind gusts more than 140 miles per hour.

There is so much stuff that is not supposed to be in the rivers, bays, and Gulf of Mexico that an image from space shows discolored coastal waters throughout Southwest Florida.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said Saturday that water quality sampling in Southwest Florida is still impacted by the passage of Hurricane Ian.

RED TIDE

The red tide organism, Karenia brevis, was observed at background concentrations in four samples collected offshore of Southwest Florida over the past week.

In Southwest Florida over the past week, K. brevis was observed at background concentrations 30-40 miles offshore of Pinellas and Hillsborough counties

What is red tide?

What causes red tide?

Call 866-300-9399 at any time from anywhere in Florida to hear a recording about red tide conditions throughout the state. Callers outside of Florida can dial 727-502-4956.

BLUE-GREEN ALGAE

Testing was unable to be done during the past week due to Hurricane Ian

What is blue-green algae?

Blue-green algae also known as cyanobacteria are a group of organisms that can live in freshwater, saltwater or brackish water. Large concentrations, called blooms, can change the water color to blue, green, brown, orange or red. Some cyanobacterial blooms can look like foam, scum, or mats on the surface of fresh water lakes and ponds. As algae in a cyanobacterial bloom die, the water may smell bad.

What causes blue-green algae?

If any major type of water quality alert is issued, you can find the details here in WGCU’s Water Quality Report.

Sign up for WGCU's monthly environmental newsletter, the Green Flash, today.

WATER QUALITY REPORT FOR SEPT. 26, 2022
SAN CARLOS BAY – Hurricane Ian is poised to dump so much rain on the region’s lakes, rivers, and watersheds this week that if the tropical system stays on its forecast track any situation with harmful algal blooms in Southwest Florida as of Sept. 25 is certain to change.

RED TIDE

The red tide organism, Karenia brevis, was not observed in samples collected statewide over the past week, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Call 866-300-9399 at any time from anywhere in Florida to hear a recording about red tide conditions throughout the state. Callers outside of Florida can dial 727-502-4956.

BLUE-GREEN ALGAE

Some of the algae was visible, but in other places it was only in background concentrations detectable only by lab testing of the water.
Most of the places the algae were found was in the shallows around shoreline of Lake O, upriver and in tributaries of the Caloosahatchee and Peace rivers, and approaching San Carlos Bay near the mouth of the Caloosahatchee.
If any major type of water quality alert is issued, you can find the details here in WGCU’s Water Quality Report.

Sign up for WGCU's monthly environmental newsletter, the Green Flash, today.

WGCU is your trusted source for news and information in Southwest Florida. We are a nonprofit public service, and your support is more critical than ever. Keep public media strong and donate now. Thank you.
WATER QUALITY REPORT FOR SEPT. 18, 2022
FORT MYERS - Reports from state environmental agencies, conservation groups, and citizens said the major waterways in Southwest Florida were clear of red tide, blue-green algae, and other harmful algae blooms.

There were some minor reports offshore and in the Caloosahatchee River.
RED TIDE
The red tide organism, Karenia brevis, was observed at background concentrations in one sample from Southwest Florida over the past week 15 miles offshore of Collier County.
No reports of fish kills or respiratory irritation suspected to be related to red tide were received during the past week.
BLUE-GREEN ALGAE
The Lee County Environmental Lab reported the presence of Microcystis in the Caloosahatchee River upstream of the Franklin Locks as sparse specks and slight accumulation along the lock, and the same component of blue-green algae was reported as moderately abundant at the Davis Boat Ramp.
If any type of water quality alert is issued, you can find the details here in WGCU’s Water Quality Report.

Environmental reporting for WGCU is funded in part by VoLo Foundation, a non-profit with a mission to accelerate change and global impact by supporting science-based climate solutions, enhancing education, and improving health.
Sign up for WGCU's monthly environmental newsletter, the Green Flash, today.
WGCU is your trusted source for news and information in Southwest Florida. We are a nonprofit public service, and your support is more critical than ever. Keep public media strong and donate now. Thank you.
WATER QUALITY REPORT FOR AUG. 26, 2022
SAN CARLOS BAY - While algae blooms can, and do, occur in every month of the year, in Southwest Florida late summer and early fall is prime time. But just like the lack of tropical storms so far during this year's hurricane season, no significant red tide or blue-green outbreaks have yet occurred - and it's a good bet that nobody's complaining.

Red tide

Blue-Green Algae

WATER QUALITY REPORT FOR AUG. 17, 2022

This advisory will continue until bacteria levels are below acceptable limits. The results of follow-up tests will announced July 19. For more information, go to http://lee.floridahealth.gov/

Blue-green algae health alert cancelled

If any type of water quality alert is issued, you can find the details here in WGCU’s Water Quality Report.

Sign up for WGCU's monthly environmental newsletter, the Green Flash, today.

The no-swim advisory at the Bonita Beach Park has been lifted.

The Florida Department of Health in Lee County is advising the public it is OK to swim at Bonita Beach Park, which for the last week had been under a no-swim advisory due to high levels of the Enterococcus bacteria. The park is at 27954 Hickory Boulevard in Bonita Springs.

Water quality testing on July 20 showed harmful bacteria amounts under the “beach action” level, which means that the water at the park meets recreational quality standards.

Red Tide

The red tide organism, Karenia brevis, was observed at background concentrations in Southwest Florida offshore of Collier County.

No reports of fish kills suspected to be related to red tide were received over the past week.

Respiratory irritation suspected to be related to red tide was not reported in Florida over the past week.

Blue-green algae health alert cancelled

While there were no high levels of blue-green algae toxins, water samples taken from the Alva Boat Ramp earlier this week found some components of cyanobacteria in the water. Exposure to high levels of blue-green algae and their toxins can cause diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting, as well as skin, eye or throat irritation, and allergic reactions or breathing difficulties

If any type of water quality alert is issued, you can find the details here in WGCU’s Water Quality Report.

Sign up for WGCU's monthly environmental newsletter, the Green Flash, today.