Lake Okeechobee discharges
In our last “Deep Dive,” we noted how the stormwater treatment areas (STAs) — 62,000-acres of man-made wetlands south of Lake Okeechobee designed to clean water headed to the Everglades — could be used to help mitigate harmful Lake O…
It’s toxic algae season — the least wonderful time of the year! At last week’s South Florida Water Management District Governing Board meeting, District Director of Water Resources Lawrence Glenn reported that algae blooms on Lake Okeechobee are beginning to…
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…
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…
At last week’s South Florida Water Management District meeting, several speakers took potshots at those of us who want to “send it south.” It’s all fine and good to call for water to be sent to the stormwater treatment areas…
Massive discharges to the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie rivers began this past Saturday, with up to 6,500 cubic feet of water per second roaring through the Julian Keen Jr. Lock and Dam/S-77 in Moore Haven and up to 3,600 cfs…
For months we’ve been predicting it. Thursday it became official: Beginning Saturday, Feb. 17, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will begin hammering the northern estuaries with discharges from Lake Okeechobee. In a press release the Corps said water will…
Ten years ago today, we were in the eye of the storm. The discharges from Lake Okeechobee to the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers had begun May 8; by early August 2013 the “Lost Summer” was in full swing, with…
It doesn’t get more American than this. Leading up to the Fourth of July, Florida beaches and waterways were packed. Families in the sand, music and cold beverages on the boat, some fishing, some swimming — that’s why we live…