Cape Town reports that water quality "progresses"

Another week of fighting toxic waters in Lee County has progressed, progress has been reported for canal waters due to increased mitigation efforts by Cape Coral and county authorities.

At the same time, the worst outbreak of red tide that southwestern Florida has experienced is still continuing on the beach fronts along the Gulf Coast.

Now, after more than two months of feeling the effects of these toxic water events, the question residents ask themselves is: is it improving?

In Cape Coral, the answer may be yes.

"We are making progress," said Jeff Pearson, director of Cape Coral Utilities. "We fight him daily."

He stated that there were no more large areas of algae in the canals and that, by reviewing a recent flight of the Cape made by the county, they only saw five to six channels still in poor condition.

He even mentioned a significant reduction in the terrible smell that emanated from local waters.

A pilot program funded by a grant to the county continued as the teams were in Cape Coral this week, aspiring channel cyanobacteria.

"We are attacking the worst areas first," said Pearson.

This project will end today, with the supplier having collected 402,500 gallons at 23 sites, and an additional 15,000 gallons to be collected at the end of the day.

County staff and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection will also continue to explore other types of cleaning technologies, said Betsy Clayton, spokesman for Lee County, in an email.

Since the beginning of August, the FDEP has paid $ 2,010,000 to Lee County to fight against the proliferation of algae.

As things seem to be going in a positive direction for the Cape's canals, Mr. Pearson said, with the tides coming in and out, a canal may look beautiful one day, and then show signs of algae the next day.

"To keep it at bay, we need to eliminate nutrients from the water," said Pearson. "When we suck the thick carpets of seaweed, we remove them and do not let them go to the bottom."

A second test project currently underway in Cabot Channel in Cape Town is water treatment by Ecological Labs Inc.

They use their Micro-Lift product that has been successful in other freshwater environments of Florida and that is used to treat water plans such as lakes, rivers, ponds and more during their 40 years of activity.

This project is a six-month trial that will end in February 1919.

A third test project saw channel waters for the first time Thursday morning, while a burgeoning operation was launched designed to prevent large piles of floating debris from entering the canals.

"The canals of Palaco Grande and Nassau are booming," said Maureen Buice, spokesman for the city. "The purpose of this effort is to determine if the explosion can actually prevent most harmful algae from getting out of the city's saltwater channel network."

They are called containment dams, used in events such as oil spills.

It floats on the surface with a curtain below.

They have been lined up with lights and flotation devices, so that boats can be aware of their presence – those who are settled at Cape Coral are partial dams, so that boats and marine life can pass.

The Cape Coral Fire Department, along with the Public Works Department, already owns these roadblocks, said Buice.

It cost the city $ 7,000 to equip them with lights and flotation devices.

They will be in place for 90 days and their effectiveness will be evaluated.

The city is also moving forward with the bubble curtain project.

This curtain will be placed at the mouth of the Mandolin Canal, near the Cape Coral Bridge, as it requires electricity to operate.

Buice said that they would light the building of the nearby Chamber of Commerce because it is placed at the bottom of the canal and will draw air bubbles upward, to prevent large debris, similar to dams.

These are efficient, but more expensive because of the electricity, because the air bubbles will easily let the boats and the marine life.

As we enter the dry season, which usually lasts from November to May, we hope that releases from Lake O will slow down considerably.

A drop in temperature over the coming months will also help alleviate the problem of algae, as cells grow in hot climates, officials said.

"We are doing our best," Pearson said of the city's efforts. "We believe residents will continue to see improvements in the channels over the next few weeks."

He also mentioned that the Florida Department of Health will conduct air sampling in the coming weeks to see if there are any effects of air inspiration surrounding toxic water.

With respect to the red tide, the most recent map of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, dated September 26, shows continued high levels of red tide organisms, Karenia-brevis.

"In southwestern Florida, fish mortalities have been reported in several locations in and / or around Pinellas, Manatee, Sarasota, Charlotte, Lee and Collier counties," says the update. line.

Dr. Eric Milbrandt, Director of the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation's Marine Laboratory, gave his perspective on the Red Tide events along Fort Myers Beach and the Sanibel and Captiva Islands.

"Sanibel continues to rely on high cell counts," he said of the red tide tests. "FWC reports from September 21 indicate that there are still large patches of Karenia in southwestern Florida in the Gulf.Inland waters of San Carlos Bay and Pine Island Sound Matlacha Pass. are little known ".

He said the zero oxygen zone is a big reason why we find fish, crabs and other marine animals on the coast.

"Now we are facing the effects of the massive mortality of marine life.Many artificial reefs, some of which plunged last Thursday, are completely devoid of fish and invertebrates," said Milbrandt. "It is because of the large hypoxic zone (zero oxygen) of more than 15 feet in the lower water column.This layer has an unknown size but will not support the fish.The mortality caused by the Red tide has caused a lot of dead marine life.We continue sampling in the Gulf using dissolved oxygen sensors that measure the entire water column and we have measured this layer of Blind Pass in the middle of D & D. Estero Island, 10 miles (10 miles). Other researchers from FGCU are trying this week the Florida Institute of Oceanography research vessel to determine the overall size of the dead zone hypoxic. "

Will Lee County continue to see drastic fish kill on its shores in the coming months because of the red tide and "dead zones"?

"Difficult to predict," said Mildrandt. "We observed dead fish near the Sanibel lighthouse on Thursday, with red tides generally occurring at this time of the year until a strong cold front mixes with the Gulf of Mexico. between november and february.As in july, i think the initial event killed most of the fish that could not get away.When the conditions will improve, they will retreat or the juveniles will be " planted "from other parts of the Gulf."

A positive aspect of the most recent developments is that the shallow waters have seen a reduction in the red tide, while the places of Sanibel show little or no Karenia brevis.

"In fact, the shallow waters have been reduced to the background this week," said Milbrandt. "We have tested samples at Ding Darling NWR (Sanibel) and there are few or no Karenia, while samples from the beach (Fort Myers Beach) remain from medium to high."

The next update of the Red Tide by the FWC will be available today.

-Connect with this reporter on Twitter: @haddad_cj