Activated charcoal used to combat blue-green algae in Cape Coral canal

Cape Coral is attempting to treat the algae in canals with bags of charcoal.

The sacks are tied to a rope from one end of the canal to the other.

The hope is it will act like a Brita filter. The activated charcoal sticks to nutrients and removed them from the water.

So far, the algae has been spotted in freshwater canals, but not saltwater canals.

“It’s kind of like a sponge,” said Kraig Hankins, a Cape Coral environmental biologist.

Hankins and Cape Coral Public Works was out on the Armstrong canal on Thursday afternoon with a hundred bags of the charcoal and unloaded them into the canal.