海角大神

Recent blooms of toxic algae in southern Florida, which have provoked Governor Rick Scott to announce a state of emergency, may be tied to fertilizer chemicals from agricultural and residential origins.

Waterways and beaches along Florida鈥檚 Treasure Coast, Lake Okeechobee, and the Everglades have been experiencing massive blooms of toxic algae since May. The cyanobacteria algae鈥攄escribed as thick, pea-green, and foul-smelling鈥攊s聽intensely toxic聽and poses health risks to people and wildlife in the area. At its peak, the bloom in Lake Okeechobee聽covered聽33 square miles鈥攐r about one-third of the lake's surface.聽One source聽estimates聽the total area of the algae聽to be roughly the size of Miami.

The impact of these algae blooms has already proven disastrous. Tourism, a main source of income for residents around Lake Okeechobee and along the coast, is down. Contact with toxic algae blooms 鈥渃an affect the gastrointestinal system, liver, nervous system, and skin.鈥� Fish are dying, and many have raised concerns about manatees and other large wildlife in the area.

So what caused this massive outbreak? The blooms spread, in part, due to flood-control measures taken by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; to prevent Lake Okeechobee from overflowing earlier this year, the Corps released large amounts of water from the lake into nearby estuaries. According to a聽statement, these actions 鈥渦pset the freshwater-saltwater mix in the estuaries鈥� and contributed to the spread of the toxic blooms.

But the key factor seems to be high levels of nutrients (like nitrogen and phosphorous) in the water. According to a spokeswoman for Earthjustice, speaking to聽CNN: 聽"The algae outbreaks are triggered by fertilizer sewage and manure pollution that the state has failed to properly regulate. It's like adding miracle grow to the water and it triggers massive algae outbreaks."

Essentially, the water in Lake Okeechobee is contaminated by nutrient-rich manure and waste-filled runoff from nearby farms and houses. Exacerbated by hot summer weather, these conditions create an ideal habitat for toxic algae. Some fear that, once the algae die off, large swaths of affected water could turn into聽oxygen-deficient 鈥渄ead zones.鈥漁ver-fertilization and poor land management, coupled with various manifestations of climate change, mean that algae blooms are becoming much more than a seasonal annoyance: these blooms are threatening ecosystems and biodiversity in the region.

The Army Corps of Engineers has drastically reduced the amount of lakewater flowing into nearby estuaries, but the root of the problem鈥攖he cause of the high nitrogen and phosphorous levels鈥攊s less immediately remediable. Next steps include a focus on responsible agriculture and gardening practices to reduce fertilizer runoff, as well as efforts to combat climate change.

In light of these recent events, the Everglades Foundation has launched a聽ten million dollar prize聽for developing a cost-effective, sustainable technology to reduce phosphorous levels in the water.

This story originally appeared on Food Tank.