Virtual Water Quality Summit to Address SWFL Algae Issues

A group of water experts is taking its concerns about the state of Southwest Florida’s waterways to lawmakers Monday in the SWFL Virtual Water Summit hosted by the Naples Daily News and The News-Press. Southwest Florida’s economy depends on our water quality, and the experts want to avoid a lot of algae dirtying our waters.

From Fort Myers Beach down to Naples, there is a mix of medium to high amounts of algae, some medium amounts in Charlotte Harbor and low amounts in Pine Island Sound.

A big focus of Monday’s water summit is education. Attendees are going to be talking about how they feel coming out of this legislative session and where we are headed with our water quality.

With the rainy season approaching, paired with the blue-green algae Lake O has already seen, Calusa Waterkeeper John Cassani, who will speak at the summit, says the outlook for this summer is grim.

“It is not a good outlook,” Cassani said. “You know, June 1 is hurricane season. That’s just a few weeks away. We are really concerned because Lake Okeechobee has already had up to 300 square miles of cyanobacteria. It’s almost as bad as it was in 2018; at this time, it might even be worse.”