MARTIN COUNTY, Fla. -- Thick mats of algae and the rancid smell that came with them seem to have disappeared in Martin County.
Thursday, test results from the State Department of Environmental Protection showed that the levels of toxins in the water near Central Marine in Rio are at a safe level for people to be around.
Still, some Martin County residents are not holding their breath that the water will stay algae free.
Scientists say the conditions are right for more algae to bloom. Smaller blooms have been reported around Martin County in the last few days.
For now, Rio residents like Cathy Maddalena are enjoying the odor-less air while they can.
“I have asthma and it was very difficult for me to breathe some days,” Maddalena said. Her home sits about 50-yards from the water, just around the corner from Central Marine.
Earlier in July, the algae appeared thick enough to walk on. The horrible smell spread well beyond the marina.
“I would tell people it smells like the worst dead thing ten times over,” Maddalena said.
The Army Corps of Engineers has steadily decreased the amount of water being discharged from Lake Okeechobee to the St. Lucie Estuary, believed to have helped to improve the conditions.
Maddalena worries the cleaner water is only temporary.
“'Im wondering if it’s all going to come back again. I mean, we don’t have a fix, no one has stepped in to fix it. So, it worries me that this is going to be just this perpetual thing, every year, every month, every few weeks.”
Maddalena wanted Governor Rick Scott to see the algae at its worst. Her one regret of the algae clearing away is that Scott may not be able to see first hand what residents were dealing with. Scott has still not visited the Treasure Coast to see the algae since the blooms cast a smell around the county.
“If he comes now it’s too little too late.”
