Signage outside of Florida’s Health Department in Tallahassee. (Naji Rutherford/FAMUAN)
The Florida Department of Health lifted previous health alerts at Lake Jackson after water samples showed harmful blue-green algae blooms in the lake. As the public was advised to stay away from the water to avoid toxins, the persisting warm climate continues to raise communal concerns about whether these blue-green algae blooms will reappear and how they’ll affect Florida’s ecosystem.
According to the CDC, the United States had 372 cyanobacterial events, also known as blue-green algae, resulting in 95 human and over 100,000 animal illnesses, occurring primarily in freshwater lakes in 2022. Nutrient pollution, warm water temperatures and excessive sunlight intensify these harmful conditions.
“The blooms are usually caused by some sort of input of nutrients, usually nitrogen and phosphorus,” said Charles H. Jagoe, a Florida A&M University School of the Environment professor. “They basically act as fertilizer and cause the algae to proliferate.”
According to Protecting Florida Together, blue-green algae function similarly to plants, using light energy to produce nutrients to grow. Rapid growth of algae, also known as blooms, occurs when algae cells rapidly accumulate, causing water discoloration and a floating mat-like appearance that produces an odor and affects aquatic animals.
Additionally, the Lake Jackson area is considered a fishing hotspot and has an abundance of arable farmlands. From an agricultural standpoint, blue-green algae pollution can negatively impact irrigation and livestock, as the toxins can contaminate crops and harm animals. Tallahassee residents have expressed concerns about these algal blooms.
“The photosynthesis process that the plants are doing is going to oversaturate the water with oxygen… it can cause most, if not all, of the aquatic life in the water to die,” Adia Richardson, an environmental studies student and member of FAMU’s Sustainability Club, said.
Despite their photosynthetic nature, blue-green algae are not essential to the ecosystem because most organisms prefer not to eat them. While these algal blooms have occurred for centuries, scientists are now starting to understand the risks posed to humans, animals and ecosystems, according to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.
“When there’s too much of the algae, it shields the sunlight coming into the fish,” Bianca Morris, an agribusiness student focused on environmental protection, said. “It’s kind of like an invasive species where it takes over the environment in that capacity.”
These harmful algal blooms also deprive marine systems of oxygen and produce toxins, causing sickness in humans and animals. Breathing in airborne droplets and direct contact with the blooms cause symptoms such as rashes, eye irritation, sore throats and coughing. In more extreme cases, symptoms from swallowing these toxins include vomiting, diarrhea, dizziness and liver damage.
“It’s a poor indicator of where we are as humans and our relationship with the environment,” Richardson said. “The fact that algae blooms are happening means something is out of equilibrium.”