STUART, Fla. – Martin County commissioners are asking President Barack Obama to issue a disaster declaration as a result of the blue-green algae blooms in Florida's Treasure Coast waterways.
Gov. Rick Scott declared a state of emergency last week in Martin and three other Florida counties -- St. Lucie, Palm Beach and Lee counties -- directing state and local authorities to fast-track water storage projects that would help reduce the algae's spread.
Recommended Videos
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Friday began reducing the flow of water from Lake Okeechobee, while the South Florida Water Management District has been holding additional water north of Lake Okeechobee to reduce the amount of water flowing south.
According to water managers, Florida Power & Light agreed to temporarily store about 2.2 billion gallons of water withdrawn from Lake Okeechobee in a cooling pond at an FPL facility near Indiantown. Storage of the water began Tuesday and will continue for about three or four months.
Lake Okeechobee is the largest in Florida and the second largest body of freshwater in the contiguous U.S. Flooding there after a major hurricane in 1928 killed at least 2,500 people in surrounding communities of mostly poor, black farm workers. It inspired the storm that is central to Zora Neale Hurston's novel "Their Eyes Were Watching God."
To reduce the risk of a breach in the Herbert Hoover Dike, which was built after that hurricane, the Army Corps tries to keep lake water levels between 12½ feet and 15½ feet above sea level. Shoring up the dike will take years. Meanwhile, freshwater is released east and west of the lake into the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie rivers.
Martin County commissioners are still waiting on test results from state and federal agencies.
"We're missing air-quality results," Commissioner Doug Smith told Local 10 News. "We're missing testing, which we desperately need to have, on exactly how toxic is the blue-green algae and at what stage does it become significantly bad and worse."
Irene Gomes, whose family has owned a hotel in Stuart since the 1950s, said the problem has become so bad that she won't even go near the water.
"My granddaughter asked me to take her to the beach, and I wouldn't take her," Gomes said.
Mary Radabaugh, who manages Central Marine in Stuart, said it's hard to put a value on the stench coming from the St. Lucie River.
"If you were to open a septic tank times maybe 2 million and add some dead animals in it, it might come close to what it smells like," she said.
Radabaugh said she wasn't exaggerating.
"It is horrible," she said.
Martin County commissioners are urging residents to stay away from the polluted water in the St. Lucie River.
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection established a toll-free telephone hotline and online form for residents to report algae blooms. Residents are asked to report the algae blooms by calling 855-305-3903 or completing the online form at reportalgaebloom.com.