The Army Corps of Engineers has begun taking steps to reduce the thick, putrid algae that is fouling up Florida shorelines just as the summer is kicking off in earnest with the Fourth of July holiday.
(FOX)- The Corps said that they would start reducing the amount of water flowing from Lake Okeechobee into two estuaries as of Friday. The commander of the Jacksonville, Fla. district of the Corps, Col. Jason Kirk, said that the move came after seeing the slime up close.
“Our water managers have dealt with such large quantities of rain and runoff entering the lake that it would cover the entire state of Delaware in two feet of water,” Kirk said in a statement on Thursday. “However, after visiting with local elected officials in Martin County yesterday and viewing the algae first hand, we felt compelled to take action, even though we need to remain vigilant in managing the level of Lake Okeechobee.”
John Campbell, a spokesman for the Army Corps of Engineers in Florida, told FoxNews.com that they had “implemented the new plan.”
That plan involves lowering the average flow from the lake, so that over the next seven days the flow is lower, on average, that it’s been in the past month.
“We don’t know that it’s going to solve it,” he said, but added that they were hopeful that the reduced amount of freshwater flowing out will allow saltwater from the ocean to help clear out the algae-filled areas. At the same time, the Corps wants to make sure that a dike holding back the lake doesn’t have too much water pressure on it.
On Wednesday, Fla. governor Rick Scott declared a state of emergency in two counties, a move that will allow authorities to better manage the flow of water in and out of the lake. On Thursday, he added two more counties, Lee and Palm Beach Counties, to the scope of the emergency.
These steps by officials are in response to the “guacamole-thick” muck that is fouling a stretch of beaches promoted as Florida’s “Treasure Coast,” where lawmakers and residents blame the federal government, saying the algae crisis is fueled by freshwater flows controlled by Army officials to protect an erosion-prone dike.