Current reports of an extensive bloom of potentially toxic blue-green algae in the southern part of Lake Okeechobee brought back bad memories of a destructive Microcystis bloom in the Caloosahatchee and St Lucie Rivers in 2005 and 2006. Although the Lake is at a level where discharges to the rivers are not anticipated until summer rains begin, it raises an alarm and a reminder that water quality problems in the Lake remain and still threaten our River basin and estuaries.