Governor DeSantis meets with blue-green algae control companies in southwest Florida

LEE COUNTY – A company says it has a solution to the blue-green algae problem in southwest Florida, and Governor DeSantis is listening.

He was at Franklin Lock on Thursday and watched Blue Green Water Technologies use their product. It’s called “Lake Guard Oxy” and it’s a hydrogen peroxide-based algicide that looks like a white powder.

The company has been using it all week along the Caloosahatchee and said it has made a lot of progress, including on the Franklin Lock.

The company held a demonstration for Governor DeSantis both along the coast and by boat. DeSantis said he first met the company in 2019 on a trade mission to Israel.

“It’s pretty interesting that this trip led to it, and it seems like if you get rid of this, get rid of the smell, get rid of it all, the homeowners were very happy with it,” DeSantis said.

Fox 4 has been tracking the company all week, treating water at the Davis boat ramp and in the canals along the Caloosahatchee.

“The product is completely safe, you can touch it without any problems. We have used it extensively around the world, ”said Eyal Harel, CEO of Blue Green Water Technologies.

Harel said her product floats to the surface and only kills the algae. He said it worked fine in the channels, but he has the bigger problem in mind.

“Ultimately, it’s really about treating Lake Okeechobee. With the Lake Guard Oxy, you can,” said Harel.

We spoke to the Southwest Florida Water Management District and they said they are still testing several products like Lake Guard Oxy to see which one works best.

“Theirs is unique in that it spreads and directly accesses the algae, which is very encouraging, but we are still looking at the data and continuing to monitor its effectiveness,” said Executive Director Drew Bartlett.

We asked the governor to clarify how committed the state is to increasing the use of this product.

“It could possibly be part of the long-term solution, but as you know, the long-term solution is to build this water infrastructure so that the water is cleaned before it goes into the estuaries,” DeSantis said.

The water management district informed us that at this point they bought about 20 tons of Lake Guard Oxy to test on waterways. They told us that the state could make a decision about deploying it on additional waterways by the end of next week.

See similar https://www.fox4now.com/news/protecting-paradise/governor-desantis-meets-with-company-combating-blue-green-algae-in-southwest-florida

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