Toxic blue-green algae blooms in St. Lucie River targeted by Martin County

From Tyler Treadway, tcpalm.comToxic Algae

Martin County plans to start two algae-fighting projects — one to get rid of blooms and one to keep them from reaching the St. Lucie River — as soon as Monday.

By Friday, the county expects to receive a $700,000 state grant, part of $3 million set aside for algae cleanup assistance to counties affected by the blooms.

“I don’t think we’ll need that much,” said John Maehl, Martin County ecosystem manager, “but we want to make sure we have enough money to get us through the end of the rainy season. I expect we’ll be getting discharges for a while.”

The two methods include sucking out the algae and blocking the algae at the 96th Street Bridge across the C-44 Canal connecting Lake O and the river.

Read more HERE