STUART, Fla. (AP) - Less freshwater will be streaming toward Florida coastlines plagued by algae.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released a statement Thursday announcing another reduction in flows from Lake Okeechobee.
The corps sends water east and west of the lake when high water levels threaten its stability. Communities along the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie rivers say the polluted discharges cause algae blooms like one that recently coated some Atlantic coastal waters.
Col. Jason Kirk said dry weather and the state's reduction of water flowing into the lake lowered its water levels. Kirk says that creates an opportunity to "bring some degree of relief to the estuaries experiencing above normal seasonal algal blooms."
A Martin County official has said algae seems less apparent in the St. Lucie River since the corps cut its flows July 1.
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