Fourth of July jubilation along Florida ’s Treasure Coast were definitely tone down yesterday , thanks to a putrid , toxic algae flower that continues to fester day after Governor Rick Scott declared a state of emergency .
describe as “ rancid ” and “ guacamole - fatheaded , ” one of the worst algae blooms in late memory has spread across coastlines and seaboard inlets in Florida ’s Martin , St. Lucie , Palm Beach , and Lee Counties , make full the gentle wind with a funky stench . resident physician , who are complaining of vexation and respiratory problem and have been seen sporting breathing masks , are being advised to stay out of the sludgy water system , as if they call for help see that one out .
The incubus traces its origins to nearby Lake Okeechobee , where the US Army Corps of Engineers recently began a insure waiver to prevent inordinate flooding . The lake water , oppressed with agrarian pollutant from farm to the north , causes promising green algae to flourish as it flows downstream .
Residents are understandably upset about the Army Corp ’s actions , but the position is complex and mired in South Florida political science . If the lake overflows — and it ’s very close to doing just that after a year of heavy rainwater — it could make “ widespread damage and problems ” to the south , Army Corps spokesperson John Campbell assure the New York Times .
And directly in the south of Lake Okeechobee lie in some of the country ’s most lucrative boodle farms , whose lobbyists , environmentalists say , are bankroll state legislative body re - election campaigns . “ They , as in the state and Union government , say they ca n’t send the weewee south , but they can , ” Florida Oceanographic Society director Mark Perry told the New York Times . “ This is an inviolable heinousness that they are allowed to go forward this in the name of agriculture . ”
The Army Corps forestall that it has a frail balance to strike , with the drinking water of more than eight million area residents at stake . “ It has been a challenging twelvemonth for south Florida , ” Col . Jason Kirk , the Army Corp ’s District Commander in Jacksonville , tell in a statement . “ Our water managers have dealt with such large amount of rainfall and runoff entering the lake that it would wrap up the total DoS of Delaware in two feet of water . ”
Still , after receiving numerous complaint last hebdomad , the Army Corps denote that it would start reducing the rate of flow of piddle from Lake Okeechobee . How much longer coastal resident physician are give-up the ghost to have to weather worthless gullible goo remains unclear .
[ ABC News|NPR|New York Times ]
Florida
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