Toxic Lake: The Untold Story of Lake Okeechobee

Click through, below, for an interactive look at the story.

CLEWISTON, Florida – For months during 2016, plumes of toxic algae turned South Florida’s emerald waters the color of coffee and smothered its inlets under a fetid blanket of guacamole-green goop that killed off fish, suffocated oyster beds and triggered a ferocious outcry from coastal residents. From NBC’s “Today Show” to The Daily Telegraph of London, news outlets chronicled the closing of beaches, the declaration of a state of emergency and the desperate, heart-breaking efforts of people using garden hoses to save manatees, affectionately known as sea cows, caked in toxic slime and struggling to breathe.

Lake Okeechobee’s fertilizer-infused water turns the ocean the color of coffee causing ecological and economic calamity for South Florida’s Treasure Coast. But the reports didn’t explain the most tragic part of the story – that this calamity is man-made. It’s the culmination of 135 years of engineering missteps, hubris and a determination to turn Everglades sawgrass into cash crops. Despite talk of spending $10.5 billion over the next two decades to fix the problem, a cloud of political uncertainty leaves it unclear when, how – or even if – the harmful algae blooms will […]

Full article: Toxic Lake: The Untold Story of Lake Okeechobee

More about Florida’s Lake Okeechobee water and algal blooms:

SFWMD: Water district board OKs leasing reservoir’s land to sugar grower

As bouts with killer algae rose, Florida gutted its water quality monitoring

White House approves huge reservoir for Lake Okeechobee overflow

NOAA: 40% of Lake Okeechobee covered in harmful algae

Environmental activist Erin Brockovich on water releases from Lake Okeechobee

Warming drives spread of toxic algae in US, researchers say

Gil Smart: What’s behind push for deep injection wells near Lake Okeechobee?