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By Keith MacDonad s our summenhas slowly passed we ve }� watched in horror as the waters of the Indian River Lagoon have taken on a- du green brown hue .Lova wi1d1 fe officials'have : '_Seen a considerable spike in the unexplained - deaths'of hu"ndreds ofmanatees,` dolphins, pel' cans fish and other wildlife along the stretch of the Indian River that runs from Volusia County, all the wayysouth to Hobe Sound hear West pahii_' Beach. Arid recent releases of overflow water from Lake`Okeechobee°has contributed to the - brackish brown waters from St -Lucie County to Martin and beyond Bright green algae blankets huge areas and bacteria counts are at dangerous: evels m many areas The Ind an River lagoon has turned into an emVironmental bight- mare -'one that prompted a recent tour by united States Senator Bill Nelson (D -FL). Sen. Nelson grew up on the river in Melbourne and has worked with others foryears on projects armed of protectingour fragile lagoon. "The Indian River is an important part of our livelihood and it's important part of our state's economy and environment,". Nelson told Vero's Voice. "And as someone who grew up on this river, I am here to tell you: I will not let it be ruined." The problem is not new to Florida: In 1982, half of Tampa Bay's seagrass had died while forty percent of its tidal marshes were destroyed. The visibility in the bay water was reduced to just two -feet and its white ibis population was reduced by seventy percent. Fish deaths numbered in the hundreds of thou- sands. Tampa Bay was dying and the culprit was the same villain that's been attacking our Lagoon since 2011: nitrogen. It's important to understand what happened to Tampa Bay and how, over the past thirty-two years, the quality of that same body of water is now equal to what it was back in -195o. It wasn't one government agency that tumed around the bay; it was a united effort the same type of effort that is needed today on Florida's east coast in order to save our own lagoon. Dr. Brian Lapointe of FAU's Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute holds a clump of gracilaria in the Banana River at Shorty's Pocket- a recent manatee mortality hot spot. With depleted seagrass, the manatee are consuming red drift algae, which is causing death or serious illnesses. Photo courtesy of FAu HBO,. Cover photo by Rick Wood, taken at Round Island. 2 Vero's Voice Issue 32