Florida's Indian River Lagoon: A Struggle with Water Quality and Acidification

The Indian River Lagoon in Florida is facing a serious issue. Too many nutrients are flowing into the water. This is causing algae to grow out of control. The algae then die and decay, which makes the water more acidic. This is bad news for shellfish and other sea creatures. Scientists studied the lagoon for a year. They looked at different parts of the lagoon and took samples every week. They found that the northern parts of the lagoon had more nutrients. This made the water more acidic. The southern parts had more freshwater flowing in. This also made the water more acidic.The scientists also found that when there was more salt in the water, the acidity went down. But when there were more nutrients, the acidity went up. This is a big problem because it's hurting the sea life in the lagoon. Fixing this problem won't be easy. It will take a lot of work to reduce the number of nutrients flowing into the lagoon. But it's important to do. The health of the lagoon depends on it.