The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers confirmed in a press release Friday that it will begin “Recovery Operations” – discharges to the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers along with the Lake Worth Lagoon – on Saturday, Dec. 7.

According to the Corps, these are the maximum allowable releases according to LOSOM:

• up to 2,100 cfs at S-79 to the Caloosahatchee River Estuary (CRE)
• up to 1,400 cfs total St. Lucie Estuary (SLE) inflows (S-80 + S-97 + S-49 + Gordy Road)
• up to 300 cfs to the Lake Worth Lagoon (LWL) at S-271 and S-352
• up to maximum practicable south at S-351 and S-354

“Releases will be made in the most beneficial way possible,” the Corps notes, but when it comes to the St. Lucie there’s no such thing as “beneficial” discharges. The river has been pounded for months by runoff from the heavy summer/fall rains, and water quality is already bad. This will make it worse, and will dump yet more silt and sediment into the river, causing even more muck to build up.

Corps officials have indicated they will maintain releases at this level for several months at least; the Corps has also said it can dial the releases back, or end them altogether, at any point depending on conditions.

But the releases could continue all the way through May.

Congressman Brian Mast has, as usual, been speaking out against the proposed discharges; and Thursday, at a meeting in Washington D.C. on Everglades Restoration, Martin County Commissioner Sarah Heard did the same.

But we need more. We need YOU to speak out – which you can do by signing this letter to the Corps via our friends at Friends of the Everglades, asking for the discharges to be forestalled.

You can also contact your local state Senators and Representatives and ask them to speak out. In Martin County, destined to be hardest hit by these discharges, you can reach Sen. Gayle Harell at (772) 221-4019 or harrell.gayle.web@flsenate.gov; Rep. Toby Overdorf at (772) 221-4961 or toby.overdorf@myfloridahouse.gov; and Rep. John Snyder at (772) 403-1064 or john.snyder@myfloridahouse.gov.

These discharges – being made despite the recent implementation of the new Lake Okeechobee System Operating Manual – are yet another reminder that we need more land to clean and store water, then send it south to the Everglades where it’s needed. Other projects underway will help, but again won’t solve the problem.

After so much damage over so many years – the problem needs to be resolved one and for all.

Stay tuned for more on this issue – and on what you can do to speak out.