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| Nature is full of magnificent creatures |
The author of the article confirmed a measurement of 140 million cells/L off of Sanibel at the boat ramp near the causeway. Not sure of the date the measurement was taken. | |||
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Lighten up and laugh |
Now it is 140 million? I still don't buy it. | |||
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| More persistent than capable |
Just go visit, take your own readings and tell us what's really happening there.... Lick the lollipop of mediocrity once and you suck forever. | |||
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| Lighten up and laugh |
Why don't you read all the other stories about it online, and maybe you can answer why one conservation foundation suddenly has readings 98 million cells higher than everyone else, that suddenly jumps up another 40 million on the phone. Could it be true? Maybe, but it is curious. | |||
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| Lighten up and laugh |
It could change quickly, but it seems to be easing up a bit. Yesterday
Today
http://www.mysanibel.com/Depar...ry-Good-to-ExcellentThis message has been edited. Last edited by: Ackks, | |||
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Member |
I had a manatee swim by my dock yesterday. You have to be lucky to see them. So all hope isn’t lost yet. La Dolce Vita | |||
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| Nature is full of magnificent creatures |
Good. Thank you for the first hand information. I am hoping a series of good events clears out the salt water and fresh water blooms. | |||
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| Nature is full of magnificent creatures |
The Google Earth map from http://myfwc.com/REDTIDESTATUS shows the area surrounding Cape Coral to be at background/<10K cell count. http://myfwc.com/media/4478433/ge-08-10-18.kmz | |||
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| Lighten up and laugh |
This pretty much ensures SW Florida will be a disaster zone for the foreseeable future.
Some of you said it is hitting the East Coast as well. Has it hit Ormond Beach or Daytona? | |||
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| It's not you, it's me.  |
It’s almost like a hurricane would be a good thing now to dilute and dissipate all the garbage | |||
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| Member |
Lake Okeechobee is controlled by locks. BUT, when they dump the freshwater when Lake Okeechobee gets too high (which is horrible and filled with neon green algae and fertilizers) the water comes out of the Caloosahachee river and dumps right through Fort Myers and Sanibel on the way to the ocean and the nutrient rich freshwater in concentrations much higher than is natural drops the salinity content greatly and causes these algae blooms. Lake Okeechobee is also dumped on the East coast and comes out in Palm City/Stuart depending on where they open the flood gates and locks. They're idiots, instead of slowly dumping the water earlier and over a much longer period of time, they wait till it's really high and do these massive dumps, killing off tons of wildlife. Big Sugar is really the cause of all of the fertilizers in the lake. I go through the lake usually once a year. 8-10 years ago the water was a beautiful blue green and clear in the lake itself, now it is a nasty dark artificial brown color with neon green speckles in it. | |||
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Member |
It present serious health concerns. Many red tides produce toxic chemicals that can affect both marine organisms and humans. The Florida red tide organism, K. brevis, produces brevetoxins that can affect the central nervous system of fish and other vertebrates, causing these animals to die. Wave action can break open K. brevis cells and release these toxins into the air, leading to respiratory irritation. For people with severe or chronic respiratory conditions, such as emphysema or asthma & COPD, red tide can cause serious illness. The red tide toxins can also accumulate in molluscan filter-feeders such as oysters and clams, which can lead to neurotoxic shellfish poisoning in people who consume contaminated shellfish. ______________________________________________ Life is short. It’s shorter with the wrong gun… | |||
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| Savor the limelight |
Since when does water flow uphill? All the cane fields are south of Okeechobee. | |||
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Member |
My wife and I were in the Keys just 3.5 weeks ago and everything was fine there. The water was beautiful and clear.
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| Victim of Life's Circumstances  |
Some of the cane fields are south of the lake but Moore Haven, Clewiston (America's sweetest city), South Bay are on the west wall and there are thousands of acres of cane along with the canals that they backpump the nutrient rich water. Another big problem is the way the corp of engineers straightened out the Kississeme River. Used to be gentle curves that gave the Orlando filth time to be filtered before it got to big O. Now it's like a big septic pipe and O is the holding tank. I started guiding on Okeechobee in 1986 and it was like a big aquarium. I sold out in 2016 and the lake was a muddy mess. Price supports propping up sugar price is the culprit. If world market price for sugar was in effect it wouldn't be profitable to raise. ________________________ God spelled backwards is dog | |||
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| Nature is full of magnificent creatures |
Only if it were not to put any water into Okeechobee or any of the areas that drain into it. Given many of those storms are 500-800 miles across, things would have to happen nearly perfectly to fix things. There was talk of lowering the level of the lake to 9 feet or so, so the rainy season would not overflow the dikes. The Army Corps feels this would negatively impact wetlands and fishing for bass or some other fish. The problem as I see relates to the issues raised above, namely the runoff from agriculture and ranching, as well as the management of the water level in the lake. The recommended amount of nitrogen fertilizer for sugarcane has increased from about 60-100 lbs per acre in 1960 to about 180 lbs per acre today. This includes the recommendation to add additional applications of fertilizer during excess rains. http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ss508 We have a problem in Utah with blue green algae blooms in Utah lake. Utah lake is a major source of secondary water for Utah and Salt Lake Counties. It appears this may be due to excess fertilizer runoff. Water is drawn via canals from Utah lake and the Jordan River to feed secondary water systems used for watering lawns and farms. This is a problem, because it can aerosolize the toxins. Last week Florida's senators proposed a bipartisan funding amendment for the CDC to study this problem. Obviously research needs to be done, because somebody needs to figure out what can be done to fix this. https://www.news-press.com/sto...research/1058476002/ | |||
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| Lighten up and laugh |
Yep. I read some local officials asked the USACE to bring the level down to 8 feet and they said no because a drought could impact reservations and sugar farms. They have a book and they don't care what else happens. | |||
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| Nature is full of magnificent creatures |
When asked, they admitted the lower lake level would still support the needs of the farms that draw on it, even in a drought. A lower lake level would have the added benefit of not requiring billions and billions to be spent to raise the level of the dikes. The lower level would, in theory, raise the safety margin of the current dikes and have the added benefit of not harming the ecosystem of a large area of the west coast. All around, there appear to be more options with a lower lake level. The Army Corps said something about being concerned a lower level would kill off marshes and fish that thrive in the lake with the higher level. That is a strange argument given the numbers of endangered animals killed off in the past few months. Not to mention what this is going to do to tourism and real estate prices on the west coast of Florida if this problem continues indefinitely with no solution in sight. | |||
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Member |
East Coast has multiple drain canals that open and dump freshwater. I’m 1.5 miles from one lock and it pretty much kills our river and canals. Keeping kids off the paddle board this summer, bacteria algae, etc off the chart. Boca inlet / lake Boca flushes on incoming tide when no freshwater release. Keys are ok but green viz, you can always tell when freshwater release is on. Palm Beach north / Martin county has had beaches closed off and on, and the algae is still bad. I have full faith government can and will make this worse. “Forigive your enemy, but remember the bastard’s name.” -Scottish proverb | |||
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| Victim of Life's Circumstances |
Lake at anything under 12 makes it non navigable. Moore Haven would be land locked. You can't let your boat off plane at 12 ft because there isn't enough water to get back up. Lots of big boat cross the lake to get to Stuart or Miami. Drastically lower lake isn't the answer as it needs to be from 13 to 15 or the keys will have no drinking water. A plan that has merit is to dig a multi thousand acre retention pond. Excess water goes there. Much info here: http://www.saj.usace.army.mil/LOWRP/ https://www.sfwmd.gov/our-work...oject-planning/lowrp https://www.sfwmd.gov/ ________________________ God spelled backwards is dog | |||
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