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July 2016.

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Above average rainfall in South Florida causes dangerously high water levels in south-central

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Florida s Lake Okeechobee.

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Flood control managers, fearing a breach in 
the dike surrounding the lake, release billions

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of gallons of water through canals, rivers 
and streams into the Gulf of Mexico and the

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Atlantic Ocean.

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The discharge to Florida s Atlantic coast 
surged down the C-44 canal that flows into

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the St. Lucie River and Estuary and into the 
lower Indian River Lagoon.

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It formed a toxic blue-green algae mat, as 
much as six inches thick, that shut down marinas

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and polluted near shore waters as it flowed 
out the St. Lucie inlet and into the ocean.

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Airborne toxins from the algae bloom sickened 
people and contaminated one of the most biologically

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diverse estuaries in North America.

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We all suffered from the headaches, the hoarseness 
of your throat and the smell that you couldn t

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get rid of once you went home at night.

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It was horrible and we don t want to do 
it again.

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I had very little business coming through 
the door, the phone stopped ringing.

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Nobody s using their boats.

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The water s just that nasty, nobody wants 
to go out on it.

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This has been making national news, it s 
going to have a devastating long term impact

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just from an economical standpoint.

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My hope is that they can figure out a way 
to stop the discharges to protect our estuaries

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which we are slowly killing off.

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Florida s coastal communities have struggled 
for decades with harmful algal blooms caused

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by seasonal freshwater discharges from Lake 
Okeechobee.

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We ve got to do something about this and 
hold the politicians responsible.

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This is where the greatest damage is being 
done to the ocean as a whole.

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It s where humans and the ocean meet and 
interact and it s the lifeblood of so much

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of the ocean.

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In South Florida, algal blooms are a long-term 
problem with complex sources and solutions.

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Now, scientists, engineers and water managers 
are pursuing restoration and rehabilitation

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strategies in response to one of America s 
complicated marine challenges.