Issue:

Lake Okeechobee Discharges

Harmful Discharges

Lake Okeechobee is often referred to as the “liquid heart” of Florida. Unfortunately, over the years, the Lake has become heavily polluted by run-off from agriculture and development in Central & South Florida.

As it was designed in 1947 to avoid flooding south of the lake, the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie rivers are the two “safety valves” of the system during high water events. Water from Lake Okeechobee is now routinely discharged to these rivers and sent to tide in the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean. This practice is also starving Florida Bay of the freshwater it naturally received through the historic Everglades.

In the wet season, massive amounts of nutrient polluted water is now being sent to the Caloosahatchee River. This nutrient rich water is exacerbating harmful algal blooms of increasing scope and frequency.

The federal Army Corps of Engineers is responsible for the Lake’s operation. The Corps’ operational manuals consider public safety and many other objectives set forth by the state’s South Florida Water Management District.

Minimum Flows & Levels

To complicate matters for the Caloosahatchee, our brackish water estuary thrives with a certain amount of freshwater sustaining Vallisneria tape grass near Fort Myers. When dry season rainfall is not enough to suppress salinity levels, tape grass die-offs occur.

As a result of these two seasonal swings, and water mismanagement by government agencies, the Caloosahatchee often suffers from too much freshwater in the wet season, and not enough freshwater in the dry season.

Take Action

Stop a Last-Minute Bait and Switch with Lake Okeechobee Management

After three long years, thousands of modeling runs and countless public input meetings, the Lake Okeechobee System Operating Manual (LOSOM) is nearing completion. And just as we thought the Army Corps was reaching a more equitable plan for most (not all) stakeholder interests, a new twist has been introduced in the eleventh hour.

At a recent Project Delivery Team (PDT) meeting, it was announced that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers would defer to state water managers and South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) when Lake Okeechobee levels are within 1.5 feet above the Water Shortage Management Line.

This raised many questions:

Won’t this make all the modeling moot?
Why is it just being added now?
Who is really behind this request?

Leaders from Calusa Waterkeeper, Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation, Friends of the Everglades, Florida Oceanographic Society, and Conservancy of Southwest Florida met to discuss this new development and send our concerns and comments to the Army Corps and Water Management District leadership.

Please consider supporting our joint ACTION ALERT: Ask the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to reject this call for more state control and higher, damaging lake levels. Please use the button below provided by our collaborative partners to send a letter to Corps officials asking them to stop the LOSOM bait and switch!

Ask the ACOE to Stop the Bait and Switch

Lake Okeechobee

Algae Blooms Triggered by Lake Okeechobee Releases Harm Wildlife and Coastal Communities

Oct 23, 2020

Conservation groups filed a proposal in federal court to ensure that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ discharges from Lake Okeechobee do not harm protected wildlife. The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida held in a ruling that the Army Corps violated the Endangered Species Act.

Letter of Appreciation from City of Stuart

Sep 28, 2020

A partial ruling was recently reached by a federal judge on our lawsuit involving the Army Corps’ failure to assess Lake Okeechobee discharges’ impacts on downstream endangered species. In the wake of this recent decision, we received the following letter of appreciation from the Mayor of Stuart, Florida, Michael J. Meier.

Army Corps Releasing Lake Okeechobee Water to Help Caloosahatchee Estuary During Dry Times

Oct 8, 2019

The U.S. ACOE is releasing Lake Okeechobee water to the Caloosahatchee River again, but these discharges are expected to help the river and estuary. An extremely dry September caused SWFL to end up several inches below normal for precipitation. The dry spell caused the Army Corps to start releases.

Concerns Moore Haven Lock Released Water Despite Army Corps Reports

Jul 16, 2019

John Cassani flew in a small airplane over Moore Haven on Saturday and noticed the Moore Haven lock was open. “The lock was wide open. Which means the water can leave the lake and come into the river directly through the lock chamber,” Cassani said.

Army Corps Acknowledges Toxic Algae and Nutrients in Lake O Releases

Jul 12, 2019

The U.S. ACOE acknowledged it has released water from Lake Okeechobee into the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie rivers that has contained toxic cyanobacteria. In a hearing about the releases from Lake Okeechobee, U.S. Rep. Brian Mast questioned Maj. Gen. Scott Spellmon of the Corps.

Army Corps Urges Caloosahatchee & Lake O Boaters to be Aware of Harmful Algae

Jul 7, 2019

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is now warning boaters about toxic cyanobacteia, also called blue-green algae, in Lake Okeechobee and the 154-mile Okeechobee Waterway, which includes the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie rivers.