LEE COUNTY, Fla. — Lee County officials are in talks with a vendor to provide cleanup services for red algae plaguing our waterways.
According to Commissioner Cecil Pendergrass, the county is likely going to hire a contractor in the coming days for the job. The contract has not been finalized, but the vendor flew over our waterways with county officials today to assess which areas to tackle first. They are also negotiating pricing. “They are actually going over that right now with the vendor as we speak to see when they could start the cleanup and what the process will entail,” Commissioner Pendergrass said.
The process would be physical rather than chemical. “We need to get the surface blooms off the surface of the water, and we need to get it disposed of,” said Pendergrass.
The state will reimburse Lee County for the cost of the cleanup up to a certain amount of money, that comes from a 3 million dollar grant as part of Governor Rick Scott’s State of Emergency.
Pendergrass said he could call for an emergency meeting of the board of county commissioners within 24 hours to get board approval for any actions taken. His goal is to have the algae cleaned up within a month.
