Possible green algae bloom spotted in East Bay, officials testing for toxicity

Escambia County officials are monitoring a possible green algae bloom in East Bay. 

The bloom, discovered earlier this week by environmental officials, can easily be seen on the surface of the water. The county's marine resources director collected samples on Wednesday to be sent to St. Petersburg for testing to confirm the type of algae. 

"It's very patchy, it's not covering the whole surface of East Bay," said Taylor “Chips” Kirschenfeld, Escambia County senior scientist and department director. "There's nothing that we've seen that could be toxic, such as fish kills or any other negative effects on marine life, so we don't think there's any toxicity to it. In general, green algae doesn't have the toxins in it that, say, red tide does." 

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The green algae is not the same as blue-green algae, which has been spotted in waters in Mississippi and Texas and can be extremely toxic to dogs and swimmers. 

Algae blooms typically have three causes: warm waters, abundant sunlight and access to nutrients. The area hasn't seen rain in weeks, Kirschenfeld said, and that, combined with the warm temperatures typical of September, create the perfect environment for an algae bloom to occur. 

The nutrients could come from stormwater runoff, yard fertilizer or septic tank leaks, all of which department officials will be checking for in the coming weeks. 

"Knowing that it's in East Bay, which is more of a rural area, we know there's no industry there, and we know that there are a lot of septic tanks," Kirschenfeld said. "So you can start to eliminate some of the potential sources, and rule out others." 

Jane Caffrey, a professor at the University of West Florida's Center for Environmental Diagnostics and Bioremediation, said it's not uncommon for algae blooms to happen in the warmer summer months. 

She added that without having confirmation of what kind of algae it is, she couldn't say whether or not it was safe to swim n.

"If you can pull it up in your hand and it's slimy, you're probably OK," she said. "If it's just kind of reddish or greenish, maybe you don't want to let your dog swim in it or drink it." 

Kirschenfeld said a similar green algae bloom occurred in Destin last week.

Annie Blanks can be reached at ablanks@pnj.com or 850-435-8632.