HEALTH

Can the St. Lucie River have toxic algae when there are no Lake Okeechobee discharges?

Ed Killer
Treasure Coast Newspapers

Tuesday afternoon, Chris Hope and Phil Norman were behind the counter at Outboards Only in Rio. It was hot. July hot. That kind of hot where a 10-minute conversation has three men sweating through their shirts.

I stopped by to see the water in the marina basin behind the shop. Since 1994, I go to look at water in our community — a lot. Let's just say it comes with the job.

Monday afternoon, a worker at the marina noticed something in the water there. Whatever it was, it had a green sheen and was slimy-looking and floating in the basin. The alarm was sounded on Facebook: "It's back," read the post.

All is quiet on the algae hunt July 16, 2019 at the marina basin at Outboards Only in Rio.

Or was it?

There was no wind and the water in there was pretty dirty to begin with. The photos taken by Dave Schwartz around 2 p.m. showed something green adrift in the basin. It did look like some kind of algae.

But it did not look like the cyanobacteria, microcystis aeruginosa, the toxic "algae" which has plagued Florida's waterways nearly every summer for the past 15 years.

More:Possible blue-green algae bloom reported at Rio marina on St. Lucie River

Twice on Tuesday, Martin County ecosystem specialist Dianne Hughes visited the marina to inspect it for signs of algae and found nothing. She scooped up a sample. She also reported it to the Department of Environmental Protection, the state's lead agency on determining which and to what concentration algae in Florida's waters has grown.

At the time of this column, the DEP had not responded to requests for information on this observation.

The marina houses about 100 boats, most of which are up on trailers on the concrete yard. It is the old Casa Rio Marina. When I was a kid growing up in Jensen Beach, this was the marina where my family kept our boat, Proud Mary. I remember trips departing the narrow cut into the St. Lucie River as my family embarked on fishing adventures and trips to the sand bar. 

The marina serves as the center of operations for the outboard motor repair business Hope founded in 2000, as well as the local Sea Tow nautical rescue franchise.

I asked Hope and Norman what they thought. Both said they didn't see the green stuff, but only saw the photos. Norman said he didn't think it looked like the same kind of algae that filled the basin behind the shop back in 2016. Living in this part of Florida qualifies them as honorary algae scientists.

In 2016, the cyanobacteria microcystis aeruginosa moved into Palm City and downtown Stuart as early as Memorial Day.

More:Mast dunks on Army Corps, but did they really not know discharges were toxic?

Plus, in 2016, the toxic algae socked into the basin there so badly, it turned into a semi-solid gook the consistency of flan smothering the majority of the basin. The marina became ground zero for an experimental hydrologic algae dispersal method using pumps and scrubbers. The DEP, at the time, was less than impressed with the final results, but it did clean up the marina pretty thoroughly. Although the awful, choking smell lingered for a lot longer.

To test or not to test

There has been no algae reported in the St. Lucie River this year, until this, more than five miles from the St. Lucie Lock and Dam, where none has been observed. Although there have been billions of gallons of water from the C-44 canal, there have been no discharges from Lake Okeechobee since the Army Corps of Engineers exercised "flexibility" in February.

There was no visible algae in Lake Okeechobee at that time. It started blooming there in June, however, and is now widespread in open areas and toxic to humans according to DEP findings.

More:Lake Okeechobee blue-green algal blooms still toxic with microcystin

The St. Lucie River experienced outbreaks of microscystis aeruginosa in 2005, 2013, 2016 and 2018. Each coincided with heavy Lake Okeechobee discharges executed by the Army Corps. I could find no evidence of algae outbreaks downstream in years absent of significant Lake Okeechobee discharges.

More:Precautionary warning issued for high bacteria in St. Lucie River at Leighton Park

I sincerely hope the DEP tests the water in this marina. It is the only way to know for sure — for our health's sake — whether this community is growing its own batch of toxic algae. Stormwater runoff, septic tanks and other pollution finds its way into the estuary with or without discharges from Lake Okeechobee.

Fortunately, the Department of Health does test the water at several locations in the St. Lucie River weekly and posts warning signage when fecal bacteria counts are high as well as algae. Only one posting warning about fecal bacteria took place so far this year and it was at Leighton Park in Palm City on July 3.

DEP test results: Real-time bacteria counts for all of Florida

The old normal

Hope and Norman said the boating lifestyle has fully rebounded from the malaise of 2018.

"Last July 4, the sand bar looked like a ghost town," Hope said. "This year, there were over 600 boats out there. People are really enjoying their boats."

Business is good at Outboards Only, too. So many boaters came in for repairs prior to July 4, they literally had to turn business away. A far cry from 2018 when they had plenty of time on their hands. At times, they wondered if they could survive the traditionally slower winter.  

Zero discharges from Lake Okeechobee this summer have been good for boaters and fishermen. Mother Nature has gifted us with a dry 2019, so far. However, a future with zero discharges is still too close to remaining a dream and too far from becoming a reality.

Ed Killer is the outdoors columnist for Treasure Coast Newspapers and TCPalm.com, and this column reflects his opinion. Friend him on Facebook at Ed Killer, follow him on Twitter @tcpalmekiller or email him at ed.killer@tcpalm.com.