St. Lucie Estuary

Why is this seat on the SFWMD board still vacant?

November 26, 2024

Hey, remember JTL? We do. Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch was a solid advocate for the Treasure Coast region during her time on the South Florida Water Management District’s Governing Board, often agitating — politely — for clean-water solutions for her community. But…

Discharges to help Lake O by hurting Caloosahatchee, St. Lucie

November 21, 2024

Lake Okeechobee is in rough shape. The lake as of this writing remains over 16 feet, and it’s been high for a long time. Submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) has died off; South Florida Water Management District officials say they like…

DEEP DIVE: Is this the calm before the toxic algae bloom storm?

September 17, 2024

Aside from some recent flare-ups — like the toxic algae found in the St. Lucie River this past spring and the near-constant algae in Lake Okeechobee — Florida waters have mostly been spared the massive, guacamole-like blue-green algae blooms that choked…

We did it: LOSOM is now the law of the land

August 14, 2024

Five years ago we had an opportunity for change. We seized it. And now, at long last, that change has come. On Monday the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers South Atlantic Division Commander signed a Record of Decision for the…

Meet VoteWater’s Gil Smart: “I didn’t come to paradise to watch it be destroyed”

July 11, 2024

Welcome to “Meet VoteWater,” an occasional feature spotlighting the people behind the advocacy. VoteWater Executive Director Gil Smart always wanted to live at the beach. But when the Pennsylvania native moved his family to Martin County during the algae-clogged “Lost…

Another attempt to solve our algae problems with ‘innovative tech’

June 27, 2024

When it comes to solving Florida’s water pollution problems, we’re always looking for the silver bullet, the easy way, the shortcut. And these shortcuts almost always involve “technology.” So we were unsurprised to see a bill filed earlier this month…

We need more STA capacity to clean and store water, period

April 27, 2024

In recent weeks we and our friends at Friends of the Everglades have been highlighting the need to fix Florida’s “rigged” system of water management which favors Big Sugar over all other stakeholders. Part of that has been our campaign…

Discharges to the Caloosahatchee – good or bad?

April 18, 2024

After last week’s newsletter asking if our discharge crisis was over, we got lots of feedback from readers along the Gulf coast who said the answer was “no.” While the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers halted discharges from Lake Okeechobee…

This is what a “Summer of Slime” looks like

April 5, 2024

Inspired by a recent photo essay in TCPalm featuring images from the “lost summers” of 2013, 2016 and 2018, we dug into the archives and selected the following pics, taken by Mary Radabaugh and John Moran (see individual photo credits),…

Deep Dive: If the STAs were reserved for lake water, Lake O might be below 13 feet now

April 4, 2024

As billions of gallons of polluted water poured out of Lake Okeechobee and into the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee River estuaries and Lake Worth Lagoon, a familiar question kept being raised: Why isn’t that water going south? And a familiar…

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