WATER QUALITY REPORT FOR DEC. 3, 2023
Col. James Booth is in charge of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Florida, which means he is also the agency’s official in charge of Everglades restoration today.
Booth, a leader in a part of the capital-A Army, is not well-known outside of the small-a army of people working to restore the Everglades after more than 100 years of misguided efforts to bend nature to the will of mankind.
For the record, folks, that never works. It may not be apparent at first but just ask a dinosaur.
The Everglades had enough with our canal-digging, flood-controlling, city-creating, dike-building, water-stealing ways during the 1800s and 1900s. It put up enough warning flags – dwindling wading bird colonies, Florida Bay’s ecosystem on the edge of collapse, species facing extinction (Florida panther, American crocodile, West Indian manatee), and the one that finally got our attention: vanishing drinking water supplies underground for a population soon to top 10 million in the region – that now in the 2000s we have changed course and are rapidly doing what is possible to undo what we have done.
While not much can be undone about Fort Myers and Naples on the state’s West Coast, and Miami and Fort Lauderdale on the East Coast, a lot can be done in between where the River of Grass still flows – or could start flowing again like it used to.
Booth has been overseeing the high-profile effort for years now.
The Army Corps and the South Florida Water Management District are the two main players in the reclamation saga, an encapsulation I admit does not give due credit to other public agencies and private nonprofits working tirelessly on perhaps one of the largest environmental restorations on Earth.
Booth makes decisions that matter most in Southwest Florida, many of which center around how much water from Lake Okeechobee, polluted with nutrients like phosphorus and nitrogen and harmful algae, will be sent down the Caloosahatchee River, and when. Both matter. A lot.
Every week, on Fridays, Booth’s office organizes a conference call with journalists who cover South Florida’s environment. He gives a quick update on any significant progress on any aspect of the Everglades restoration, then he takes questions. Nothing is off-limits.
That type of access to someone so high up in any chain of command is rather rare. It’s the way it should be with every civil servant, although not often the way it is.
In August, Booth decided it was not necessary to release water into the Caloosahatchee River even though the water level in Lake Okeechobee was a foot higher than the same time in 2022. That one could have gone bad, fast.
“But if we see heavy rains that are driving us hard up, we may change that what we're doing,” Booth said during the phone conference with reporters then. “Right now, where we are in the season, you know, we're well into what, almost two weeks into August? We’re not in a great place, but we're not as bad as a lot of people would have thought with a heavy hurricane season as it was initially forecast.”
He trusted in his intuition, which was fed by a combination of recently finished repairs to strengthen the Herbert Hoover Dike surrounding the lake, his thoughts on future hurricanes, versus the damage large releases of the foul water would be to the Caloosahatchee River and its watershed.
It’s complicated, but Booth was correct.
Booth’s job in this case is to balance the ecosystem's needs with human activities. In our case, again, that means ensuring the Caloosahatchee River is healthy and sustainable for future generations while aiming to create a more stable and healthy river environment today.
RED TIDE
The red tide organism, Karenia brevis, was not observed in samples collected statewide over the past week by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and no reports of fish kills suspected to be related to red tide were received over the past week.
No reports of respiratory irritation suspected to be related to red tide were reported in Florida over the past week.
The Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife received six birds with toxicosis symptoms from red tide or blue-green algae during the first week of November.
BLUE-GREEN ALGAE
Lee County Environmental Lab reported reported the presence of components of blue-green algae upstream of the Franklin Locks as a wind-driven pale green scum line.
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.
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.
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.
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