That awful algae

This is Paul Janensch with a Treasure Coast Essay about the blue-green algae oozing over our waters.  First it was a carpet on the St. Lucie River.  Then it reached the Indian River Lagoon and even the ocean.  It came through the St. Lucie Inlet in Martin County and was moving up the coast.  The algae is potentially harmful to humans, other animals and plants.  It’s July, and health officials are telling us to stay out of the water.  Toxin in the algae can cause vomiting if swallowed and a rash if touched.  Presumably, the algae starts growing in freshwater discharged from Lake Okeechobee by the Army Corps of Engineers when the lake rises too high.  We have put men on the moon and eradicated smallpox.  I hope something can be done about the algae before the Treasure Coast becomes known as the Toxic Coast.  I’m Paul Janensch.