The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has begun releasing water from Lake Okeechobee after citing higher-than-average water levels from El Niño conditions. Many local environmental experts say they are worried. “We’re really concerned that this could be setting us up for another lost summer on the Treasure Coast,” Eve Samples, executive director of Friends of the Everglades, told WPBF 25 News. “We were just starting to see the ecosystem recover after 2018, so it’s been six years since then. And we’re finally starting to see seagrass come back, oysters spawning, and now when salinity declines as a result of these Lake O discharges, that can all come to a screeching halt,” she said. A spokesperson with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers sent WPBF 25 News a statement in response to its latest release of Lake Okeechobee water. “The intent behind these releases is to move as much water as possible out of Lake Okeechobee before the beginning of oyster spawning, before the start of blue-green algal blooms on the lake, and before the start of the wet season,” the spokesperson wrote. Environmental experts say, however, these discharges deplete salinity levels in the Indian River Lagoon and the St. Lucie River. “They carry sediment and those nutrients, phosphorus and nitrogen that can cause algae blooms. And this is one of the most biodiverse estuaries in North America– The St. Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon,” Samples said. “If you throw off that balance with unnatural massive discharges from Lake Okeechobee, the impacts are really dramatic.”WPBF 25 News also spoke with Mark Perry, the executive director and CEO of the Florida Oceanographic Society, about his response to the recent discharge. “Since April of last year, the lake has been too deep, and it’s been bad for the lake. It’s been outside of its ecological envelope,” Perry said. “Huge amount of volumes of water are going both east and west to these estuaries, which are really critical nursery grounds for a lot of our fish and shellfish that we have in our area.” Meanwhile, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers wrote in a statement that “our charge is to balance the needs of ALL ecosystems and stakeholders throughout the system and it is never an easy decision! We realize how critical environmental needs are, and it makes any decisions to release that much harder.” Perry, however, is concerned about the impact these discharges will have on the diverse habitats of marine wildlife in our area. “It’s not just the pollution itself, but it’s the freshwater. So, if the oyster reef starts to die off, and this lasts for about a 14-day release and then another 14-day and then another 14-day for the next six weeks, this is going to be turning the estuary fresh for a long period of time, which would be devastating to the oyster reefs,” Perry said. “We need to put it south so that it’s rehydrating the Everglades, particularly during the dry season, and we don’t want to be sending it to the Atlantic or Gulf of Mexico, wasting billions of gallons of fresh water,” he added. Local experts said they do not believe the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is responding appropriately to high water-level conditions in Lake Okeechobee. “Things could happen right now to increase the volumes of water within the watershed, tremendous rainfall. We get into immediate tropical season June 1, and all bets are off, all conditions are off. They could do this now, we could still get major discharges later on,” Perry said. “Yes, Lake Okeechobee is high right now. But there are about 60,000 acres of manmade marshes south of the lake that taxpayers paid for. Stormwater treatment areas that we could be using to send lake water to,” Samples said. Both Perry and Samples are with the Rivers Coalition, and they will be meeting this Thursday with officials from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the South Florida Water Management District. The meeting is scheduled to take place at Stuart City Hall and begin at 11 a.m. Top HeadlinesStay up-to-date: The latest headlines and weather from WPBF 25 Get the latest news updates with the WPBF 25 News app. You can download it here.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has begun releasing water from Lake Okeechobee after citing higher-than-average water levels from El Niño conditions. Many local environmental experts say they are worried.
“We’re really concerned that this could be setting us up for another lost summer on the Treasure Coast,” Eve Samples, executive director of Friends of the Everglades, told WPBF 25 News.
“We were just starting to see the ecosystem recover after 2018, so it’s been six years since then. And we’re finally starting to see seagrass come back, oysters spawning, and now when salinity declines as a result of these Lake O discharges, that can all come to a screeching halt,” she said.
A spokesperson with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers sent WPBF 25 News a statement in response to its latest release of Lake Okeechobee water.
“The intent behind these releases is to move as much water as possible out of Lake Okeechobee before the beginning of oyster spawning, before the start of blue-green algal blooms on the lake, and before the start of the wet season,” the spokesperson wrote.
Environmental experts say, however, these discharges deplete salinity levels in the Indian River Lagoon and the St. Lucie River.
“They carry sediment and those nutrients, phosphorus and nitrogen that can cause algae blooms. And this is one of the most biodiverse estuaries in North America– The St. Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon,” Samples said. “If you throw off that balance with unnatural massive discharges from Lake Okeechobee, the impacts are really dramatic.”
WPBF 25 News also spoke with Mark Perry, the executive director and CEO of the Florida Oceanographic Society, about his response to the recent discharge.
“Since April of last year, the lake has been too deep, and it’s been bad for the lake. It’s been outside of its ecological envelope,” Perry said. “Huge amount of volumes of water are going both east and west to these estuaries, which are really critical nursery grounds for a lot of our fish and shellfish that we have in our area.”
Meanwhile, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers wrote in a statement that “our charge is to balance the needs of ALL ecosystems and stakeholders throughout the system and it is never an easy decision! We realize how critical environmental needs are, and it makes any decisions to release that much harder.”
Perry, however, is concerned about the impact these discharges will have on the diverse habitats of marine wildlife in our area.
“It’s not just the pollution itself, but it’s the freshwater. So, if the oyster reef starts to die off, and this lasts for about a 14-day release and then another 14-day and then another 14-day for the next six weeks, this is going to be turning the estuary fresh for a long period of time, which would be devastating to the oyster reefs,” Perry said.
“We need to put it south so that it’s rehydrating the Everglades, particularly during the dry season, and we don’t want to be sending it to the Atlantic or Gulf of Mexico, wasting billions of gallons of fresh water,” he added.
Local experts said they do not believe the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is responding appropriately to high water-level conditions in Lake Okeechobee.
“Things could happen right now to increase the volumes of water within the watershed, tremendous rainfall. We get into immediate tropical season June 1, and all bets are off, all conditions are off. They could do this now, we could still get major discharges later on,” Perry said.
“Yes, Lake Okeechobee is high right now. But there are about 60,000 acres of manmade marshes south of the lake that taxpayers paid for. Stormwater treatment areas that we could be using to send lake water to,” Samples said.
Both Perry and Samples are with the Rivers Coalition, and they will be meeting this Thursday with officials from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the South Florida Water Management District.
The meeting is scheduled to take place at Stuart City Hall and begin at 11 a.m.
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