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In South Florida, where the Everglades meet the bays, environmental challenges abound. Sea level rise threatens homes and real estate. Invasive species imperil native plants and animals. Pesticides reduce the risk of mosquito-borne diseases, but at what cost? WLRN's award-winning environment reporting strives to capture the color and complexity of human interaction with one of the most biodiverse areas of the planet.

Everglades Advocates Call On Senate Majority Leader To Help Florida With Algae Crisis

Andrew West
/
The News Press via the Miami Herald
The most severe red tide to hit Florida in more than a decade has left a trail of dead fish, sea turtles, manatees and other marine life along the state's southwest coast.

Everglades advocates are telling Congress to get moving on a major restoration project needed to help prevent future algae blooms like the ones currently choking inland and coastal waterways in Florida. 

In a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Wednesday, Everglades Foundation CEO Eric Eikenberg said Florida is depending on Congress for help funding a reservoir south of Lake Okeechobee. He urged McConnell to make the bill containing the reservoir project a top priority when the Senate returns from an August break.

"Florida is being ravaged by a perennial algae crisis that is destroying our beaches, fisheries, real estate and tourism industries," Eikenberg wrote. "We are desperate for the relief afforded in this legislation."

The U.S. House of Representatives has already approved a version of the bill with a placeholder for the reservoir. If the Senate version passes, the two versions will need to be reconciled before any final funding decisions are made.

Read more: Everglades 101: Just How Does This Thing Work, Anyway?

As in the summer of 2016, noxious-smelling blue-green algae in Lake Okeechobee and the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee estuaries threatens the habitats of birds and fish, prompting a state of emergency declaration. On the state's west coast, a “red tide” of algae has killed manatees, sea turtles and thousands of fish. Both types of bloom have been linked to respiratory irritation and other symptoms in humans.

The blooms are fueled in part by nutrient-heavy water that’s discharged east and west from Lake Okeechobee when there’s a lot of rain. A reservoir south of the lake would provide extra storage and reduce the need for discharges.

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