Algae blooms a blight in Leon lakes

From the banks of Lake Killearn, the surface of the water looks like a child tried to mix bright green and dark brown paint, leaving a greenish, ghoulish Halloween-themed concoction.

The summer heat has produced visible algae blooms in Lake Killearn and at least four other Leon County lakes.

The infestation of the stemless, rootless aquatic plant is not as dramatic as the outbreak in central Florida’s Lake Okeechobee. But local scientists say it poses a threat to Wakulla Springs.

The blue-green algae-contaminated waters of lakes Jackson and Killearn, both located north of the Tallahassee, will travel 50 days underground through the spongy karst bedrock before bubbling up at the iconic spring. Algae is a naturally occurring phenomena and is associated with a host of health problems for people and pets.

“We are already seeing green water in Wakulla Springs,” said Sean McGlynn, a Tallahassee environmental scientist. “We are already getting chlorophyll in the spring, the green pigment of algae.”

McGlynn said algae is also blooming in lakes Munson to the south of Tallahassee, Lafayette to the east, as well Kanturk, near Lake Killearn.

McGlynn Laboratories Inc. has secured a grant to measure the extent and damage of this summer’s algae bloom. It grows 100 times faster in the summer months here than it does during the fall and winter. A 10-degree rise in temperature doubles the plant’s growth rate. McGlynn said the local outbreak will reach maximum toxicity in mid-August.

A byproduct of growth

Florida’s abundance of man-made and shallow natural lakes dotting a concrete urban landscape ( 18 million of the state’s 20 million residents live in urban areas) and an affinity for lush green lawns are the recipe for the seemingly Salvador Dali-inspired waves of guacamole-like water crashing on South Florida beaches earlier this summer.

The fluorescent-green waves came from Lake Okeechobee after its polluted water was discharged into the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers. Surreal images of the thick, Day-Glo water lapping at piers and docks went world-wide and wreaked havoc on the tourism economies of coastal towns along both the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico.

Gov. Rick Scott declared a state of emergency in St. Lucie, Martin, Palm Beach and Lee counties. Hotel bookings fell as much as 18 percent over the 4th of July holiday weekend. And according to the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity, retail, restaurants and recreational sport-fishing companies all reported business was down.

“All have indicated economic damage,” DEO spokeswoman Morgan McCord said earlier this month.

A poll released this week by the University of Florida and Black Hills State University found that among people planning a trip over the next six months, 50 percent responded that Florida’s Treasure Coast would be a bad choice, while 45 percent felt similarly about Southwest Florida because of the algae bloom.

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The concern in Leon County is more about health and aesthetics than economics. Algae coated lakes are not pretty to look at, are odorous and can make you sick.

But there is an economic impact. To Wakulla County. Leon waters flow into Wakulla Springs State Park, a world-famous destination that, according to a Florida State University study, generated millions annually to the local economy.

Algae multiplies quickly in calm waterways with an overabundance of nutrients — nitrogen and phosphorus. In the Wakulla watershed, the two main sources are waste – from humans and animals, and fertilizers.

The state and local governments have begun work on the problem of human waste — identifying and beginning to convert septic tanks in the spring basin to centralized sewer systems. More than $3 million has been designated for the effort this year.

It’s just a fraction of the hundreds of millions of dollars needed to convert an estimated 14,000 septic systems in the watershed, but officials and activists say it's a start.

Most of Tallahassee is on a centralized sewer system, while some unincorporated areas of the county aren't. The city has spent more than $250 million to upgrade its waste-water treatment facility and spray field to reduce the amount of nutrients flowing into lakes and streams and eventually to Wakulla.

That leaves lawn fertilizers as the main source of food for the algae in Leon County lakes.

“We have to flush, but we don’t have to fertilize,” said noted springs expert Jim Stevenson.

The state is dotted with subdivisions that marketed stormwater ponds as “lakefront property.” The problem, environmentalists say, is they are not natural lakes but a part of a stormwater retention system fed mainly by rain and runoff that carries lawn fertilizers and clippings to feed the naturally occurring algae and other plants in the pond.

Florida is different

Normally, the ponds would be effective in slowing and cleaning polluted water before it enters the aquifer. North Florida’s peculiar geology disrupts the process. The aquifer is closer to the surface here, reducing the time for soil and plants to filter the water. Plus, the underlying karst is riddled with holes, crevices, and tunnels, which form an underground pipe-like network connecting lakes, streams and eventually, coastal waters.

“If it’s on the ground, it’s going to end up in the spring,” said Stevenson.

It takes the water seven weeks to get there. The trip from Lake Jackson and Killearn to Wakulla Spring moves along at a rate of about a mile a day — according to dye tests and water sampling. The flow follows a meandering route through underground caves, crevices, and tunnels to make the 22-mile trip.

Once there, it forms a mass big enough to darken the water, suck the oxygen out of it and push other wildlife away from a natural spring that humans and animals have flocked to since prehistoric times.

McGlynn said the algae in Lake Kanturk is toxic. It has spread to Lake Killearn and is a strain, “as bad” as that in South Florida, where the Okeechobee blooms have cost the tourism industry money.

Controlling a risk to people, plants and other living things

City and other officials say such comments are unfair. They point to local regulations and efforts and say they are stronger than state law is and that will prevent a similar disaster from occurring.

“Algae is a big concern, but there’s a substantial contrast between circumstances in South Florida and what we have here,” said David Henry, manager of the city’s storm water planning. “Comparison to algae blooms in Leon County and those down state is an alarmist approach.”

The Kanturk and Killearn lakes are part of the Killearn Estates subdivision. They are part of an aesthetically pleasing stormwater management system constructed when the neighborhood was developed in the 1970s.

Will this be our watershed moment?

The lakes are a gathering place; used for holiday celebrations and recreation.

Plant growth and algae blooms are continual problems for the homeowners association. The lakes appear to attract algae as if they were magnets but it actually is just biology – combine the sun, water, plants and food and you get more plants.

The homeowners association has spent more than $14,000 this year to combat algae in the lakes.

“The aggressive treatment of aquatic plants has reduced the algae by about 50 percent since May,” said Homeowner's Board President John Paul Bailey. “We’re working with the city to educate people about the problem; let them know about reducing the use of lawn fertilizers to help remove the (flow of) nutrients.”

Bailey said the HOA has also posted signs warning residents to keep their children and pets out of the water.

McGlynn said the algae blooms in Lake Munson and Lafayette are as bad, if not worse.

Local response

The local response to the algae bloom has four prongs. It includes:

• A public information campaign on how to reduce personal pollution
• The ongoing building and renovating of storm water facilities
• Continual monitoring of water quality
• The enforcement of storm-water facility requirements

Stevenson endorses the idea of a public information campaign as a necessary first step in reducing the flow of nitrates into the water supply.

“Homeowners need to know that the management of their yard can impact the water quality of our lakes, rivers, and springs. Algae isn’t just a South Florida problem,” said Stevenson. “Nutrients feed algae and algae is a threat to swimming, fishing, birding and natural scenery.”

But, McGlynn is frustrated by the slow, inadequate response to a threat.

“If a four-pronged attack were working then there would not be algae blooms in our lakes,” said McGlynn. “All these lakes are sinkhole lakes, karst lakes, connected to the aquifer and connected to the spring.”

He has a $5,000 grant, money raised by the environmentally-theme license plate and funneled through the Wildlife Foundation to the Wakulla Springs Alliance to study the source and flow of nutrients into the spring.

It is one of three grants, totaling more than $43,000, the Wakulla Springs Alliance secured this year. The money will be used to study the source and flow rate of nutrients flowing into the spring. A WSA official said the three reports should be completed by year end.

How to protect yourself

 Most harmful algal blooms occur in warm, slow-moving, eutrophic waters in mid-June through late September and are formed by cyanobacteria (aka blue-green algae) which are now known to be photosynthetic bacteria.

The Centers for Disease Control provides the following tips when there is a HAB infestation.

 ·         Don't swim, water ski, or boat in areas where the water is discolored or where you see foam, scum, or mats of algae on the water. If you do swim in water that might have a CyanoHAB, rinse off with fresh water as soon as possible.

·         Don't let pets or livestock swim in or drink from areas where the water is discolored or where you see foam, scum, or mats of algae on the water. If pets (especially dogs) swim in scummy water, rinse them off immediately— do not let them lick the algae (and toxins) off their fur.

·         Don't irrigate lawns or golf courses with pond water that looks scummy or smells bad.

·         Report any "musty" smell or taste in your drinking water to your local water utility. Respect any water-body closures announced by local public health authorities.

Common symptoms of algae poisoning in people include:

• rash
• blisters
• cough
• wheezing
• congestion
• sore throat
• earache
• eye irritation
• diarrhea
• vomiting
• headache

Symptoms generally begin hours to 2 days after exposure to the toxins.

Source Centers for Disease Control

Symptoms associated with algae poisoning in dogs include:

• Malaise/lethargy
• Weakness
• Not eating
• Vomiting
• Diarrhea
• Black-tarry stool
• Collapse
• Pale gums
• Jaundice (yellow) gums
• Shock
• Seizures
• Death

• Inability to walk
• Hypersalivation
• Excessive (eye) tearing
• Tremors
• Muscle rigidity
• Difficulty breathing or blue gums

Source Pet Health Network