What you can do at home to prevent contributing to the water crisis

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Southwest Floridians are asking what can they do to stop this water quality crisis.

As toxic blue-green algae lingers outside, Sam Manno feels trapped inside. While pointing to a mask on his face, he says, “Even with this, I’m limited to how long I’ll stay outside … it irritates my nostrils, it goes into my throat.”

Manno says it’s been months of living with algae in his Cape Coral canal and the stench even sent him to the doctor twice, “Some days you can go out there and it’s not too bad and like today it’s really impossible.”

At a Florida Gulf Coast University lab Dr. James Douglass is using a machine to test nutrients in water. He says part of our algae problem may be closer to home than you think.

“The chemicals are the same whether they’re coming from a big farm in Okeechobee or whether they’re coming from your own backyard in Cape Coral,” Douglass said.

Ads are running in Lee County urging residents to cut back on fertilizer.

The reason Douglass says is “When fertilizer gets into the water, any algae that happened to be present in the water will absorb it and use that to grow and multiply.”

To curb the problem Dr. Douglass says you can add plants along your canal or leave room around the edge of the water where you don’t mow.

That will help filter out nutrients before they hit the water.

Meanwhile, people like Manno are getting impatient, “The most frustrating part is not looking out the window, it’s knowing that it’s causing a health problem.”

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