Sample from Cape Coral canal tests positive for blue-green algae

Blue-green algae is back in our local waterways. We took a sample of it to FGCU, and it tested positive. However, experts say it’s not time to panic.

The sample was taken from a canal in Cape Coral Monday. While it looks similar to the algae we saw last year, an expert at FGCU tested it and said it is not cause for immediate concern. But for neighbors who said they were unable to walk out of their homes for months, not worrying is easier said than done.

“Well the smell last year was like a dumpster,” Kimberley Artesa said. “It was a sewer, human waste.”

Artesa is disgusted thinking about the blue-green algae that filled the canal behind her house in 2018.

“It was horrible, and it was pungent,” Artesa said. “And it just lasted for so long.”