Ten Billion Gallons Of Polluted Water Pumped Into Lake OkeeChobee!

[FloridaFishinFool]

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/palm-beach/fl-lake-o-pumping-change-20160201-story.html

South Florida Emergency Pumping Into Lake Okeechobee Ends

Feb. 1, 2016

Ten billion gallons of pollution-laden water was pumped into Lake Okeechobee during four days of emergency measures to avert South Florida flooding, officials disclosed Monday.

Amid an already rainier-than-usual winter, heavy rains last week triggered the controversial "back pumping" of water from South Florida's vast farming region, the Everglades Agricultural Area, north into the lake.

That helped protect lakeside towns as well as sugar cane fields and vegetable farms from flooding, but at the expense of allowing fertilizers and other pollutants that wash off the land to end up in the lake.

And that back pumping came at the same time officials were starting to discharge water from the swollen lake out to sea for flood control, despite the potential environmental harm to coastal fishing grounds.

By Sunday evening the emergency pumping into the lake had stopped after water levels south of the lake were brought under control, according to the South Florida Water Management District.

But in just four days, the 10 billion gallons of water pumped into the lake from the south equated to filling up about 15,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

The pumping was necessary to "protect thousands of families, businesses and property in the Glades communities," according to a statement from the South Florida Water Management District.

That pumped in water, usually low in oxygen and high in phosphorus and nitrogen, can lead to fish kills, toxic algae blooms and threaten drinking water supplies. Prolonged back pumping can lead to dead zones in the lake, scaring away fish, wading birds and tourists alike, environmentalists warn.

"We are glad it's over. ... If it keeps going, it gets worse and worse," said Paul Gray, an Audubon Florida scientist who monitors Lake Okeechobee. "It all adds up."

The short duration of this round of emergency pumping means the environmental risks to the lake should be minimal, according to Randy Smith, spokesman for the South Florida Water Management District.

Yet the El Nino-driven rainy weather during what is supposed to be South Florida's dry season could end up triggering more back pumping, according to the water management district.

January's rainfall, averaging 9.18 inches across South Florida, was the most for that month since 1932, according to the water management district.

While pumping water from the south into the lake has stopped, the lake draining to the coast continues.

Lowering the lake level by draining water to the east and west coasts helps ease the strain on the troubled dike that protects South Florida from flooding.

The Army Corps of Engineers on Friday started draining up to 1.8 billion gallons of lake water a day to the east into the St. Lucie River. As much as 4.2 billion gallons per day is also being drained to the west into the Caloosahatchee River.

That draining is good for protecting the lake's erosion prone dike, but big discharges of freshwater from the lake into normally salty estuaries can kill fishing grounds and fuel algae blooms that make waterways unsafe for swimming.

Dumping lake water to the coast and out to sea also wastes water that could be used to replenish the Everglades and to restock South Florida supplies during droughts.

The Army Corps of Engineers tries to keep Lake Okeechobee water levels between 12.5 and 15.5 feet above sea level. On Monday the lake was 16.14 feet.

To ease South Florida flood risk, Lake Okeechobee draining to resume

South Florida flooding threats are triggering the pumping of polluted farm water into Lake Okeechobee, just as more lake water is set to be drained out to sea.

While that helps protect lakeside communities and South Florida farmland from flooding, the draining and dumping can have harmful environmental consequences for the lake and coastal communities.

"It's really bad water," said Paul Gray, an Audubon Florida scientist who monitors Lake Okeechobee. "It has got really high levels of nitrogen and phosphorus. ... And here we are getting ready to dump extra (lake) water into the estuaries."

Rising waters during this rainier-than-usual winter are triggering the Lake Okeechobee water management difficulties.

To ease the strain on the lake's erosion-prone dike, the Army Corps of Engineers tries to keep the lake level between 12.5 and 15.5 feet above sea level. The lake level Thursday was 15.54 feet, which was nearly a foot higher than the average level for this time of year.

Water from Central Florida drains into Lake Okeechobee, which gets tapped by South Florida growers for irrigation and also serves as a backup water supply for South Florida communities.

But during heavy rainy periods, the lake fills up faster than the water gets moved south and that can trigger flood-control discharges to the east and west coasts.

Now in addition to the increased flows of water from Central Florida, flood-control concerns have prompted the emergency practice of "back-pumping" water into the lake from South Florida's vast farming region.

Rising water levels raise concerns about the lake's troubled dike, considered one of the country's most at risk of failing. Draining lake water out to sea lessens that strain on the dike and makes room for water expected to flow in from future storms.

But redirecting lake water toward the east and west coasts also wastes water that could restock South Florida supplies during future droughts.

And discharging large amounts of lake water toward the coasts can harm fishing grounds and fuel algae blooms that make water unsafe for swimming, scaring away tourists.

The Army Corps of Engineers on Friday plans to start lake releases east through the St. Lucie River. Also, ongoing lake releases west into the Caloosahatchee River are being increased, the Army Corps announced Thursday.

"The heavy rain this month has limited the ability to send any water south," said Jim Jeffords, the Army Corps chief of operations for Florida. "We will look to start releasing (water) when possible east and west in order to slow the rise and maintain storage capacity in the lake."

Back-pumping water from the south into the lake, which started Wednesday evening, was necessary to protect the "lives and property" of people living near the lake, according to a statement released Thursday from the South Florida Water Management District released.

Environmental groups have long raised concerns about back-pumping, warning that it flushes fertilizers, pesticides and other pollutants into Lake Okeechobee, which can lead to fish kills, toxic algae blooms and threaten drinking water supplies.

But the back-pumping is allowed to avoid flooding and "will continue as needed," according to the South Florida Water Management District.

This year's El Niño-driven wet weather has boosted Lake Okeechobee at a time when the lake water level is usually on the decline.

An El Niño weather pattern occurs when warming of the eastern Pacific typically translates to a wetter winter in Florida.

South Florida has averaged about 13 inches of rainfall since November, which is about twice as much as usual so far during the fall-to-spring dry season.

Lake Okeechobee's water once naturally flowed south, overlapping its southern banks and replenishing the Everglades.

But decades of draining to make way for South Florida farming and development redirected that water, flushing much of it out to sea for flood control.

On Friday, the Army Corps plans to increase that draining by discharging up to 756 million gallons per day of Lake Okeechobee water east into the St. Lucie River.

In addition, up to 1.8 billion gallons of lake water per day could be discharged to the west into the Caloosahatchee River.

The new round of lake water discharges could have harmful consequences on coastal fishing grounds if they linger into the spring spawning season, according to Mark Perry, executive director of the Florida Oceanographic Society in Stuart.

Perry maintains that the coastal discharges could have been avoided if water managers were willing to hold more water in the farming region south of the lake or had moved more water south sooner.

"We are kind of disappointed that they haven't done more to move water south," Perry said. "They just have to manage (water supplies) better."

Projects are in the works that could enable holding onto more of the lake water that now gets drained out to sea.

Lake Okeechobee's 70-year-old dike is in the midst of a decades-long rehab. And slow-moving Everglades restoration plans, which call for building reservoirs and water-treatment areas, are expected to create more South Florida water-storage alternatives.

While that multibillion-dollar effort has been slowed by funding delays and construction problems, work has begun on a reservoir expected to eventually hold some of the lake water that flows to the East Coast.

 

[BareHook]

SFWMD at its finest! Not!

So sad, I live in the St. Lucie area where they have just started the water discharges into the river and already there are bacteria warnings for fecal pollution as well as Vibrio vulnificus bacteria that can be fatal. No swimming or wading, and forget about eating your catch.

Eventually the warnings will extend to the local beaches near the inlets if the outflow continues....

Ken

[FloridaFishinFool]

It is already happening:

[Florida Cracker2]

I have mixed feelings concerning the water release. I have lived on the Caloosahatchee most of my life and during rain season the river often flows like it did over the last few days. It's just big-news since everyone along the coast got together the last couple years and filed suit. Don't get me wrong...I don't like the polutants flowing past my property and creating health problems, but for decades it has done this. And I love all the snook I caught over the last week. Usually I have to wait till June/July before they come upriver.

[Florida Cracker2]

And also a lot of that dirty water comes from the Peace and Myaka rivers as well from the north end of Charlotte Harbor. Also carrying pollutants from pasture lands. Even as a kid in the 70's we never harvested oysters during rain season. Again...don't get me wrong, I don't like it...but stopping the release from lake O won't make as much of an impact as people may think.

[Florida Cracker2]

I'm sorry I keep coming back to this thread...but the result of the ongoing lawsuit effects me directly as I have riverfront property which 1/4 of is Corps of Eng. wright-of-way and I want flood control. I want to put things in perspective. The locks at Moore Haven has a spillway 90 foot wide. The next lock at Ortona has a spillway about 110 foot wide allowing for drainage of its surrounding area. Move on west to Franklin Locks and the spillway is 330 foot wide allowing for the numerous creeks and a 70 foot spillway dumping into the south side of the river east of it. By the time you get to the mouth of the Caloosahatchee, you have added Orange River (sizable river) and many other drainage canals. An honest estimate of how much lake O water compared to other water would be about 20%. Factor in Peace and Myaka rivers and it could be as low as 5-10%. All the creeks and spillways were flowing the last few days...and still are now. Sorry if I have ruffled any feathers...I really don't mean to.

[FloridaFishinFool]

I don't think you have ruffled any feathers. Please feel free to speak your mind. Tell your side. I think we all understand your concerns as an individual land owner, but I think the majority of us are more concerned about poisoning our waters and killing wildlife more so than temporary flooding issues which I think is very important to you and we understand that, so please feel free to say whatever you want to concerning this issue. It is good to hear all sides so we can all have a better understanding of it all.

One thing we all have to realize, is that the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers really messed this state up decades ago when everyone thought it was a great idea to dig massive canals and drain the water off the land so that the land could be claimed by man and used by man- with little to no regard for Nature. This was a huge mistake. Sugar cane growers and cattle ranchers were behind much of land grabbing back then.

The waters use to flow down through the center of the state through Okeechobee water basin and on into the vast grasslands of the everglades where it was filtered before running off the end of the state into Florida Bay where all that water washed out the bay and kept it clean and alive.

When mankind tampered with this natural water flow and stopped the washing effect of Florida bay, it began to get filthy and dying.

The move today is towards undoing the damage caused by the U.S. Army Corp. Of Engineers and restore this natural water flow, and much, much more needs to be done in this direction, but unfortunately for mankind, over the more recent decades a lot of new humans have moved into and onto the very lands we need for Nature to reclaim this natural water flow path, and so this is going to lead to conflict no doubt about it. Our human created filth (surface pollution) has to run off somewhere...

But what is more important? Killing Nature so we can conquer every inch of land for ourselves? Or try and find a balance with Nature and restore what we have damaged even if it means relocating humans to do it?

It boils down to what is more important to us and what are we going to do about it. All sides are welcome to share opinions so please don't hesitate to do so.

For anyone seeking information on this problem here are a few links...

http://www.dep.state.fl.us/secretary/everglades/

http://www.evergladesrestoration.gov/

http://www.ce.utexas.edu/prof/maidment/grad/dugger/GLADES/glades.html

http://my.sfwmd.gov/portal/page/portal/xweb%20protecting%20and%20restoring/americas%20everglades

http://www.epa.gov/everglades

http://www.nps.gov/ever/learn/nature/cerp.htm

http://dels.nas.edu/resources/static-assets/materials-based-on-reports/reports-in-brief/everglades_brief_final.pdf

 

[FloridaFishinFool]

Lake Okeechobee levels were still rising slightly Thursday, and the lake is at the highest elevation its been since December of 2005

The Army Corps of Engineers on Friday morning will start sending nearly 70,000 gallons of water per second down the Caloosahatchee River.

Record rains in January dumped nearly a foot of the wet stuff on the 16-county region in the South Florida Water Management District, which basically covers the historic Everglades. Stormwater runoff from lands north and south of the river and Lake Okeechobee discharges turned coastal waters brown, close to black in some areas over the past week.

Lake Okeechobee levels are higher than they've been since December of 2005, after a series of tropical storms and hurricanes dumped rain across much of the state.

"All we need is a small (rain or storm) event and we could have a record event on Lake Okeechobee," said Jim Jeffords, who heads the district's operations division.

The district, on average, has received about 10 to 18 inches of rain over the past three months, when the dry season started. That's about a foot more than on average through Feb. 3.

Release rates will be 9,300 cubic feet per second, or 69,569 gallons per second, to the Caloosahatchee River while flows to the St. Lucie river and east coast will be as high as 7,700 cubic feet per second (or 57,300 gallons per second), the Army Corps announced during a press conference Thursday.

The lake is still rising, according to Army Corps and South Florida Water Management District records.

Critics of water management practices say the agencies should have been better prepared for this event, especially because federal meteorologists have predicted El Nino rains for months now.

Sanibel Mayor Kevin Ruane said the state and region need more places to store water — massive fields or reservoirs to keep water on the landscape instead of flowing into ditches and canals.

The South Florida Water Management District last week back pumped water off lands south of the lake and back into Okeechobee, a controversial practice that some say violates the Clean Water Act.

Ruane said farmers are getting a bad reputation over local water conditions. Much of the water flowing to Sanibel and miles out into the Gulf of Mexico is from the Fort Myers-Cape Coral area. Those flows, however, do not differentiate the pollution levels in runoff from local development versus those of Lake Okeechobee water.

"Organic material, mangroves, those are the elements that are making the water brown," Ruane said.

Mangroves produce tannins but do not cause waters to suffer from turbidity or low oxygen levels. These trees are major filters of pollution, and water in mangrove areas under normal circumstances is clear — although the bottoms of rivers and streams are brown from mangrove leaves, bark and limbs.

It's unknown how long the releases will continue, although it will take weeks or even a few months to lower the lake in preparation of the rainy season, which starts in June.

"It all depends on how much water we get out of the lake," Jeffords said.

During heavy rain events, water can enter the lake three times faster than it can be discharged, Jeffords said.

Meteorologists expect an El Nino pattern to bring even more rain in the next two or three months. More rain means more lake releases and stormwater runoff — the top contributors to local flows.

The Army Corps keeps lake levels at 12.5 to 15.5 feet above sea level. The lake has been kept higher in past decades, but water levels of 17 or 18 feet can destroy vegetation in the lake and kill the fishery. Higher water levels also mean more pressure on the dike. More pressure, in turn, leads to seepage, leaks, and, eventually, a breach.

Look what's happening around Lake Okeechobee
the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board

The El Nino weather system that helped keep hurricanes away from Florida last summer has put coastal regions under siege again. By responding to this latest emergency, the Legislature can head off others.

According to the South Florida Water Management District, the November-January period was the wettest since record keeping began in 1932. In January, the district's 16 counties got more than three times the usual rainfall. El Nino winters tend to be cooler and wetter.

All that rainfall has raised the level of Lake Okeechobee to more than 16 feet, a point where it threatens the Herbert Hoover Dike on the lake's south shore. When that happens, the Army Corps of Engineers releases water to the east through the St. Lucie River and to the west through the Caloosahatchee River.

Those discharges carry pollution from the lake, fouling the rivers, the estuaries — brackish areas where marine life breed — and even the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. The longer the discharges last, the greater the damage. Unfortunately, the discharges last week got larger will last for a while. To ease pressure on the dike, the level must drop to at least 15 feet and perhaps lower.

Worse, to prevent flooding of farms and towns south of the lake, the district just pumped water from canals back into the lake for four days. The effect was to put more pollution into the lake, making the discharges even dirtier. It was only the ninth back-pumping since 2008. Four of those came after tropical storms.

Florida faces a frustrating paradox in trying to restore the Everglades water system that begins with the Kissimmee River headwaters south of Orlando and ends at Florida Bay. There is too much freshwater where we don't need it — flowing untreated into the lake — and too little where we need it — flowing clean into the bay.

Though the state has spent much on Everglades restoration, the state must spend much more to restore the system. Some immediate and longer-term help can come from the Legislature.

Citing the discharges, Sen. Joe Negron, R-Stuart, asked for $7.5 million that would increase areas for storing and filtering water before it flows into the lake. Despite opposition from key senators, Negron is likely to prevail since he's set to be Senate president next year.

That one-time money would help, but Negron is sponsoring another bill that would help even more. Senate Bill 1168 would allocate as much as $200 million through 2024 toward the state-federal Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan. The money would come from Amendment 1 funding.

Negron's co-sponsor is Sen. Lizbeth Benacquisto, R-Fort Myers. Her district includes the Caloosahatchee River, which is getting nearly 6 billion gallons of discharges per day, roughly 1 billion more than the St. Lucie River. Rep. Gayle Harrell, who also represents the Treasure Coast, is the House sponsor.

On Tuesday, the Senate Environmental Preservation and Conservation Committee will hear Negron's legislation. Chairman Charlie Dean, R-Inverness, wants more money to help the freshwater springs in his north-central Florida district. Environmental advocates are urging a compromise that preserves the Everglades money.

On Friday, Negron told the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board that he expects to reach that compromise. "I believe that we will find some Amendment 1 money for springs," Negron said. "The bill is a work in progress, and we have to work out the distribution formula." The emergency money would expand from 300 acres to 4,000 acres a successful water storage project on a Martin County farm. Negron said the site could hold 30 billion gallons of water.

That's about a week's worth of discharges at the current rate. Negron acknowledged that the project is just one of many needed to prevent assaults on the St. Lucie. Still, he is "optimistic long-term," and he may be right — if the Legislature and Congress keep the money coming. New legislation would automatically authorize — though not fund — Everglades restoration projects the U.S. Corps of Engineers considers ready in the next five years.

Construction soon will be complete on the A-1 reservoir in western Palm Beach County that can hold 60,000 acre feet of excess rainfall. Groundbreaking looms for a reservoir that would divert polluted water from the Caloosahatchee River. Construction has begun on a similar reservoir in Martin County. Negron said the work will take about six years.

So there is progress since the last St. Lucie River emergency in mid-2013. Audubon of Florida Director Eric Draper, however, makes the right point when he says, "The water system in South Florida is geared around the Everglades Agricultural Area, and we have to talk about that."

Correct. Beyond the money, if the state's new water policy doesn't force farmers to adequately clean water flowing off their fields, these emergencies — and the resultant damage — are inevitable.

[FloridaFishinFool]

 

[FloridaFishinFool]

39 minutes ago, FloridaFishinFool said:

 

The Army Corps keeps lake levels at 12.5 to 15.5 feet above sea level. The lake has been kept higher in past decades, but water levels of 17 or 18 feet can destroy vegetation in the lake and kill the fishery. Higher water levels also mean more pressure on the dike. More pressure, in turn, leads to seepage, leaks, and, eventually, a breach.

 

Okeechobee bass fishermen, did you catch the line in there about when the water levels begin to kill off the fish? When water levels reach 17 or 18 feet? They do not say why or how though. I will have to see if I can find out why... but here is their plan:

"All that rainfall has raised the level of Lake Okeechobee to more than 16 feet, a point where it threatens the Herbert Hoover Dike on the lake's south shore. When that happens, the Army Corps of Engineers releases water to the east through the St. Lucie River and to the west through the Caloosahatchee River.

Those discharges carry pollution from the lake, fouling the rivers, the estuaries — brackish areas where marine life breed — and even the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. The longer the discharges last, the greater the damage. Unfortunately, the discharges last week got larger will last for a while. To ease pressure on the dike, the level must drop to at least 15 feet and perhaps lower."

Right now the people along the east and west coast of Florida are screaming mad over this water discharge from Okeechobee.

All of that water is suppose to flow naturally South through the everglades and right off the tip of Florida into Florida bay! Not be pumped back up north into Lake Okeechobee from down South and then discharged east and west out into the ocean and gulf of Mexico! Man is working against Nature!

But I do agree with the concerns of those people living along the Florida coasts who are saying that the government should have been better prepared for this ahead of time in advance of the high water level crisis and began slowly releasing the water in smaller amounts over a longer period of time to reduce the damage, rather than wait until the last second and do a massive power dump of the water in 4 days time, but it looks like that will not be enough and more water will be discharged I do believe.

[topwaterrob]

I fished the lake this past Wednesday out of Belle Glade and I've never been on it when its this high.  It was hard for me to even identify the areas I routinely fish, they were all under water.  The fishing sucked as well. 

[1234567]

Went Friday and same story.  Water was high and dirty in most area and the fishing sucked as well. 

[Ohio Archer]

Used to live in Homestead and fished Lake O a lot.  Everything is a delicate balance since man tried to "fix" the Everglades.  You would think we would figure out by now that we don't know squat about Mother Nature.

John Anderson sang about it well...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8sh9P3X33w

[FloridaFishinFool]

Thanks for posting this song! I will repost it and hopefully it will link in to this website this time:

Seminole Wind (lyrics)

Ever since the days of old
Men would search for wealth untold
They'd dig for silver and for gold
And leave the empty holes
And way down south in the Everglades
Where the black water rolls and the saw grass waves
The eagles fly and the otters play
In the land of the Seminole

So blow, blow Seminole wind
Blow like you're never gonna blow again
I'm calling to you like a long lost friend
But I know who you are
And blow, blow from the Okeechobee
All the way up to Micanopy
Blow across the home of the Seminole
The alligators and the gar

And progress came and took its toll
And in the name of flood control
They made their plans and they drained the land
Now the glades are going dry
And the last time I walked in the swamp
I sat upon a Cypress stump
I listened close and I heard the ghost
Of Osceola cry

So blow, blow Seminole wind
Blow like you're never gonna blow again
I'm calling to you like a long lost friend
But I know who you are
And blow, blow from the Okeechobee
All the way up to Micanopy
Blow across the home of the Seminole
The alligators and the gar

[Darren.]

That's a lotta crud..... Wow. 10B gallons.

Sorry to hear.

[DogBone_384]

....HUMANS......

[Fentawn]

sad

[0119]

On Wednesday, February 10, 2016 at 10:50 AM, Florida Cracker2 said:

I have mixed feelings concerning the water release. I have lived on the Caloosahatchee most of my life and during rain season the river often flows like it did over the last few days. It's just big-news since everyone along the coast got together the last couple years and filed suit. Don't get me wrong...I don't like the polutants flowing past my property and creating health problems, but for decades it has done this. And I love all the snook I caught over the last week. Usually I have to wait till June/July before they come upriver.

Local news is pumping this issue for their extreme agendas. All those tests they touted for a week came back negative. Johnny redsox is mad he has to look at brown water while is snowbirds toes sit in the sand. No one is explaining the fact a hundred thousand folks might lose their homes if it's not pumped out. Ft. Myers beach water is always a dirty soapy gray mess normally, now that it's tannic, it's allegedly uglier? Too many northerners are having all the say in what we do to our own state.  The snook trout and reds were not even in this area to be affected. I bet you are enjoying some good snook times up the river now. The upper Myakka is on fire for me.

[Florida Cracker2]

Picketers were on Mantanzaz pass bridge with signs boohooing the situation. The only remedy is stopping the flow of water off lands meaning that the water will have to stay at location. That will bring back malaria, dengi, and a host of other deseases that drainage has prevented. The alternative is lots of chemicals to reduce the deseases. There was a reason that dranage was implemented. Those who don't learn from history...live to repeat it. Remember...Florida was considered uninhabitable before drainage was in place.

[CHugh]

The past 10 days have been terrible down here. All of my go to spots in canals are completely lifeless, no bait, no solid vegetation, not to mention they're all at least 5'-8' higher then normal. Some of my great spots that I save for fishing this time of year, and usually have clear water are all brown, lifeless, no fish. I was tossing a white fluke and it actually turned brown from the water. We'll feeling the effects of this all the way down in south Collier County.

[FloridaFishinFool]

Corps of Engineers OKs plan to divert Lake Okeechobee water south

By Arek Sarkissian of the Naples Daily News

2-15-2016

An earlier version of this story misstated the level considered safe by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for Lake Okeechobee, which is between 12.5 feet and 15 feet. The article also incorrectly stated what roadway the L-29 canal runs along, which is East Tamiami Trail. 

TALLAHASSEE — U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Monday approved the first step in Gov. Rick Scott's plan to divert Lake Okeechobee water to the Everglades, with a goal of relieving estuaries along the Southwest Florida coast of damaging freshwater discharges.

Starting Monday, water from an already flooded conservation area south of Lake Okeechobee will flow to the Everglades National Park. The soon-to-be emptied conservation area will eventually take on water from Lake Okeechobee, decreasing flows into the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie rivers. Some Southwest Florida leaders have protested the discharges into the Caloosahatchee, arguing the flow that eventually gushes into the Gulf of Mexico endangers the delicate estuaries that survive on uniquely balanced brackish water.

"I applaud the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' quick action to move water south through the Shark River Slough to ease flooding in the Everglades," Scott said in a news release. "This action will help prevent a die off of wildlife whose habitat is currently flooded and eventually relieve pressure from discharges to the estuaries."

The Corps of Engineers began to flush water from Lake Okeechobee to the rivers Jan. 30 and "further increased" flows on Feb. 5 to relieve even more swelling from the heavy rainfall.

Historic January rains pushed the level of Lake Okeechobee well beyond the between 12.5 and 15 feet deemed safe by the Corps of Engineers. As of Monday, the lake level was 16.21 feet, according to a Corps of Engineers website.

The approval from the Corps of Engineers prompted the South Water Management District to open a gate that emptied part of the Everglades known as Conservation Area 3 at a rate of 10,000 gallons per second, according to a news release provided by the agency. The water from Conservation Area 3 flows through the L-29 Canal, which runs along East Tamiami Trail, and makes its way into Shark River Slough in Everglades National Park, said John Campbell, an agency spokesman.

"I'm not aware this has been done before," Campbell said, adding that landowners along the L-29 canal had to sign agreements.

The Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie rivers will continue to digest Lake Okeechobee water, but the emptied conservation area will eventually take some of the flow, Campbell said.

"It is still something," Campbell said. "Every little bit helps."

Scott sent his letter to the Corps of Engineers after he received a letter from Rep. Heather Fitzenhagen, R-Fort Myers, who wrote him about the damage the fresh lake water had caused along the Gulf Coast. The dilemma led to a collaborative effort by federal, state and local officials, which resulted in a solution that began to take action Monday, Fitzenhagen said.

"Of course, you think about how the water interrupts the delicate estuaries that need that perfect mix of saline and fresh water," Fitzenhagen said. "But then you have to consider how it affects our quality of life along the coast, with people hearing about things like fish kills and algae."

Progress in the fight to decrease the lake water in the Caloosahachee drew praise from leaders in Lee County. Bonita Springs Mayor Ben Nelson said moving water south was a big step in the right direction.

"This is a good sign," Nelson said. "Given all the options that were even possible, this seems like the one that is most doable now."

Sanibel Mayor Kevin Ruane's city sits at the mouth of the Caloosahatchee, and he was pleased the countless hours of phone calls with the Corps of Engineers, and state and federal leaders finally paid off.

"We were trying to utilize everything we had to come up with a long-term solution," Ruane said. "This isn't just about how it all impacts our tourism — this is where we live."

Naples Daily News Reporter Maryann Batlle contributed to this report

ANGRY PROTESTERS DEMAND THAT ADAM PUTNAM PUT STOP TO LAKE OKEECHOBEE RELEASES

February 16, 2016  By Jenna Buzzacco-Foerster

 

Adam Putnam was met by a crowd of angry Treasure Coast residents during a stop in Martin County last week.

Putnam, the state’s agriculture commissioner, was greeted by protesters calling on the state and the Army Corps of Engineers to stop discharges from Lake Okeechobee into the Indian River Lagoon and the Caloosahatchee River. In a five-minute video uploaded to YouTube on Feb. 11, protesters could be heard shouting at Putnam as he makes his way through the crowd.

“We just want clean water,” a man is heard shouting.

“Why are they back pumping, why are they back pumping?” another person shouts.

Putnam is shown trying to talk to the crowd, but can barely be heard over their shouts.

Putnam was in Martin County on Thursday for a Economic Development Council of Martin County dinner. He was the featured speaker.

“I get it. I get why people are so upset,” he told WPBF 25.

Citing high lake levels, the Army Corps of Engineers began pumping water out of the lake on Jan. 30. The Corps further increased the flows on Feb. 5, saying the lake levels continued to rise.

According to WPBF 25, the Corps said in a media call Thursday it had no choice but to pump water out of the lake, saying if it didn’t pump now the water could breach the Herbert Hoover Dike and cause flooding when rainy season begins.

Lawmakers have called for action in recent weeks. Gov. Rick Scott last week called on the Corps to take swift action to stop the releases. On Monday, the Corps approved Scott’s request to deviate from its water control plan.

The deviation raises water levels in the L-29 canal, which runs along the north side of U.S. 41 between Water Conservation Area 3 and Everglades National Park.

[0119]

11 hours ago, FloridaFishinFool said:

 

“We just want clean water,” a man is heard shouting.

 

That clear brown tannic stained water is cleaner than the inshore waters of both the Atlantic and the stagnant gulf.  Sadly none of the folks/groups bellowing out in protest cares even one dingleberry about the environment. This is simply more northern money controlling our lives. Developers cannot sell if the news is telling heavy pocketed snowbirds that the water they are looking at is ugly.  That is the only thing fueling this.  10 billion gallons is not clogging the rivers, its flushing them.  Tests have proved pollutants are nill at most places and "within fed. guidelines" in the others.  Coastline nature is well within its ability to cope with the outflow, since its from one way or another, a natural occurring thing and esturine wildlife isnt showing up in mass at any local wildlife rehab centers.  Pictures of suffering wildlife has been determined to be deaths related to redtide which we have been suffering from in our area before the ouflow started.  Johnny Yankee has been swimming in that brown water for decades here in Charlotte harbor where brown is the 365 day a year color.  Johnny Rich Yankee in Ft. Myers beach can do the same thing......

[FloridaFishinFool]

I am curious then what you think of this claim from the above article:

"with a goal of relieving estuaries along the Southwest Florida coast of damaging freshwater discharges.

...Some Southwest Florida leaders have protested the discharges into the Caloosahatchee, arguing the flow that eventually gushes into the Gulf of Mexico endangers the delicate estuaries that survive on uniquely balanced brackish water."

When nearly pure fresh pours out into the gulf of Mexico and replaces the salt water with fresh, what happens to wildlife that is conditioned to living in salt water but now inundated with mostly freshwater?

This claim has nothing to do with dirty water. But is this claim valid? Does an inundation of fresh water as shown below kill or otherwise damage these natural habitats and wildlife?

I can see where a natural freshwater discharge would be diluted out over a longer period of time, but these water power dumps out of Okeechobee are massive and done all at once.

While I agree it does a fair amount of flushing, what does this massive outflow of freshwater do to the salt water habitat when released in such a large quantity so quickly?

[0119]

Estuaries by definition are the area where fresh and salt meet and intermingle. The entire Charlotte harbor is this Brown, tanning and fresh, 365 days a year. 

[bocabasser]

http://www.news-press.com/story/news/2016/02/16/water-flowing-everglades-national-park-first-time-nearly-century/80448460/

not sure how they are going to solve the problem, but i wish they would work together and come up with a solution that serves all.