The rationale behind the damaging discharges to the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie rivers and Lake Worth Lagoon goes like this:

Army Corps officials say the goal of “Recovery Operations” is to give Lake O a break. For six years in a row, the lake has gone over 16 feet during the wet season; this has led to a steep drop in the amount of submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) in the lake. Normally water managers like to see 35,000 or so acres of SAV around Lake O; this year it’s below 3,500 acres, one-tenth of where it should be.

That has a wide range of impacts, including to the lake’s storied bass fishery. As the Corps noted in its press release announcing the discharges:

“Lowering water levels will allow light to penetrate to the bottom and allow SAV to regerminate and regrow during the April-July period. Regrowth of SAV in Lake Okeechobee will reduce water turbidity and nutrient concentrations. Improved water quality within the lake benefits the estuaries if significant releases are necessary in the coming seasons/years.”

But in the meantime, this type of “relief” only shifts the pain to the estuaries, particularly the St. Lucie and Lake Worth Lagoon. The Caloosahatchee is “only” supposed to get an average of 2,100 cfs (cubic feet per second) of water, though totals earlier this week were above 2,800 cfs, including basin runoff, at S-79. 

The St. Lucie is supposed to get up to 1,400 cfs – but as of Monday was getting more than 1,600 cfs at S-80.

Even if those totals come down it mean much more silt, sediments and nutrients into the rivers. It will add to existing problems with muck. On the St. Lucie side it will impact salinity levels. Corps officials have said it’s better to have these impacts now, while harmful algal blooms on the lake are at a minimum; and the Corps maintains that these discharges “will not impact oyster spawn, sea grass, spawning, or other ecological activities.”

We’re dubious at best about that claim.

This round of discharges makes it clear that whatever its benefits, LOSOM ultimately won’t prevent releases. If the EAA Reservoir were completed, maybe the situation would be different – but the completion date for the reservoir has been pushed back to 2034, and that’s if it survives the lawsuit filed against the project by Big Sugar.

So what CAN be done now? You can ask local lawmakers to speak out against the discharges, as Congressman Brian Mast has. In Martin County, destined to be hardest hit by these discharges, you can reach Sen. Gayle Harell at (772) 221-4019 or ha***************@fl******.gov; Rep. Toby Overdorf at (772) 221-4961 or to***********@my************.gov; and Rep. John Snyder at (772) 403-1064 or jo*********@my************.gov.

You can send a letter to the Corps demanding the discharges be discontinued, or email Col. Brandon Bowman with the Corps directly at br**************@us***.mil.

And you can support efforts to secure more land in the Everglades Agricultural Area to store water from the lake, clean it and send it south to the Everglades, rather than to the northern estuaries.