$5M in state grants to help monitor, prevent Lake O algae blooms

Two state grants totaling $5.2 million will help better monitor algae blooms in Lake Okeechobee and help keep algae-feeding phosphorus and nitrogen out of the lake.

Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the grants this week based on recommendations from the state's Blue-Green Algae Task Force.

The South Florida Water Management District will use $3 million to pay for a project to remove more than 15,000 pounds of phosphorus over three years from a canal entering the 730-square-mile lake. That's about the weight of the largest African bull elephant.

Florida Atlantic University's Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute at Fort Pierce will use a $2.2 million grant for its Harmful Algal Bloom Assessment of Lake Okeechobee (HALO), a combination of state-of-the-art technologies and on-site work to better monitor blooms and understand the conditions that cause them.