Lake Minneola, the pride of adjoining Clermont and Minneola, was not supposed to be a victim of a worldwide plague: harmful and toxic algae running amok.
But despite being naturally dark and acidic, which generally inhibits algae growth, Minneola exploded unexpectedly early this year with a green ooze of algae. It was the worst known outbreak for the nearly 2,000-acre lake about 20 miles west of Orlando in south Lake County. A foam several feet thick of rotting algae piled up on shorelines.
It was another casualty in the onslaught of harmful algae, overtaking even the Florida waters thought to be in healthy condition. In response, government officials have identified Lake Minneola as the state’s guinea pig for a chemical treatment unproven in Florida and designed by an Israeli company to temporarily knock out harmful algae.
“The lake is sick,” said Waleed Nasser, director of U.S. operations for BlueGreen Water Technologies Ltd. “It has been contaminated for years.”
The product supplied by the company consists of tiny beads of encapsulated hydrogen peroxide that are key in providing “surgical treatments of toxic algal blooms.” The material drifts with algae, attacking the harmful varieties and allowing beneficial algae to recover, according to the company.
It’s eco-friendly and safe for humans, BlueGreen Water Technologies executives said during a virtual public meeting held recently to introduce Lake Minneola neighbors to the coming treatment.
The algae smothering Lake Minneola earlier this year has subsided but environmental officials suspect the lake is vulnerable to another outbreak.
The treatment has never been applied in Florida, although the company shared with state officials examples of work done elsewhere in the U.S. and internationally.
Florida’s crisis of algae in fresh and coastal waters was a leading topic in the governor’s race that led to the election of Ron DeSantis two years ago.
An underlying cause of excessive and harmful algae is pollution, the kind that comes from sewage, storm water and fertilizers and is proving difficult and costly to control.
Florida’s environmental agencies are increasingly receptive to identifying a machine, chemical or system that can control algae at an affordable price – an approach previously referred to by some as a magic bullet.
Set up under DeSantis, the state’s Blue-Green Algae Task Force recommended “investing in a diverse portfolio of technologies” to control harmful algae.
Most of the emerging technologies focus on removing pollution. BlueGreen Water Technologies touts its approach as more like a vaccine, able to boost a lake’s immune system.
The pilot project is to last at least a half-year, starting this month. The company, according to state records, is charging $329,000 for an initial assessment and treatment, $1.3 million for monthly monitoring and treatment and $72,000 for a final report and public presentation. With other fees, the total cost is $1.7 million.
Many algae-infested lakes elsewhere in Central Florida have been blighted for so long their conditions are largely an ignored part of the local landscape.
But with nearly 40,000 residents and Lake County’s largest city by population, Clermont brands itself as the “Choice of Champions” as “an ideal location to train for triathlons, track-and-field events, water sports and more.”
The city, according to its own marketing, is “known for our picturesque hills and pristine lakes.”
As with Central Florida’s Wekiva River and Butler Chain of Lakes, among other rivers and lakes in Florida, Lake Minneola and the Clermont Chain of Lakes are classified as an Outstanding Florida Water, which brings additional environmental protections under state law.
“Residents and visitors enjoy fishing from our piers, swimming from our Waterfront Park beach, sailing, jet skiing, water skiing, power boating and more from our Clermont Boat Ramp,” city spokeswoman Kathryn Deen said in an email.
In March, as the COVID-19 pandemic began to trigger stay-at-home orders and sheltering, organizers canceled the swim portion of the Great Clermont and Florida Challenge Triathlons because of erupting algae in Lake Minneola.
The event’s operator explained that “in the 35 year history of Clermont Triathlons the swim has never been canceled due to adverse conditions in Lake Minneola.”
Ron Hart, executive director of the Lake County Water Authority, said that Lake Minneola, with its acidic, dark water was built by nature to resist algae troubles even as pollution enters the lake.
With some warning signs of previous, minor outbreaks of algae, Lake Minneola in February suddenly “tipped from a clear-water lake to one highly dominated by blue-green algae,” Hart said.
Asked if he thinks the BlueGreen Water Technologies treatment will succeed, Hart said “I don’t want to say that it will and I don’t want to say that it won’t. One thing we do know is that it may treat what is actively going on at the moment but it’s not addressing the underlying cause.”
The Florida Department and Environmental Protection and the regional St. Johns River Water Management District are paying for and overseeing the chemical treatment of Lake Minneola.
The Lake County Water Authority, a local agency focused on improvement and protection of the county’s surface waters, is pursuing with a national consultant a study of the sources of pollution getting into Lake Minneola.
Hart said the BlueGreen Water Technologies treatment may succeed in Lake Minneola, but the pollutants feeding outbreaks of harmful algae will continue to build up in the lake and migrate downstream into other lakes.
“It’s almost a cancer and you can’t just ignore it and let it go to another portion of the body and figure it will just go away,” Hart said.
BlueGreen Water Technologies Ltd. is claiming success with a treatment last year of Chippewa Lake in Ohio, an hour south of Cleveland.
“For better or worse, Chippewa Lake was infamous for its algal bloom issues,” said Nate Eppink, director of the Medina County Park District.
“They offered to do a free, one-time treatment to prove the effectiveness of their product and we looked at it as a risk-free proposition,” Eppink said.
Chippewa Lake is popular for swimming and boating, with shoreline homes occupied year-round. With regular algae blooms in recent years, the park district has repeatedly restricted recreation in the lake.
“From everything we saw, they mostly likely prevented a bloom from happening last year,” Eppink said.
But Eppink said it’s not certain if the chemical treatment had a lingering effect that prevented an outbreak this year.
He said other Ohio lakes with chronic algae troubles also did not experience serious eruptions this year for reasons that aren’t known.
kspear@orlandosentinel.com
