Martin County - Tuesday August 15, 2023: The treatment of a toxic algae bloom in the C-44 canal along Timer Powers Park in Indiatown has proven effective, according to John Maehl, the Ecosystem Restoration and Management Manager for Martin County Public Works.
Last week, the Florida Department of Health in Martin County issued a Health Alert for that cyanobacteria bloom. It was a serious outbreak.
“The EPA establishes a standard for safe recreational waters at eight parts (cyanobacteria) per billion," said Maehl. "It was tested at 800 which is pretty high. I don’t think there’s been another one that high this year, so yes, its 100 times what the EPA standard is.”
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection did the testing and then contacted the South Florida Water Management District which has been using a contractor to apply a hydrogen-peroxide based chemical to break up algae blooms. The Indiantown bloom was treated last week.
“Hydrogen-peroxide has long been known to kill bacteria and we were pleased to see that the toxin levels went way down," said Maehl. "It went from 800 to 5.6 parts per billion. And the algae is particularly susceptible to it, so they can does at very, very, low levels that don’t harm other things and pretty easily kill the cyanobacteria.”
It’s not clear however whether the bloom came from a release of a Lake Okeechobee water, or an outbreak within the canal itself. “It’s certainly possible that you could have a cyanobacteria bloom in the canal without lake water.," said Maehl, "and it’s certainly possible Lake water contributed to it. I think it would be dishonest to claim it was one source or the other.”