New release plans for Lake O may reduce red tide in Gulf

Originally published in Gulfshore Business by John Guerra on September 9, 2024

Under LOSOM, if there’s an active red tide in the Gulf and blue-green algae in the lake, the Army Corps can decide against releasing water from the 730-square-mile freshwater lake until things improve, said Capt. Codty Pierce, the waterkeeper in the Calusa Waterkeeper organization. 

“The primary change is the governance and how they react when the lake is at a certain level,” Pierce said. “We’ll see more severe storms that deliver more rainfall in shorter amounts of time, and that makes it harder to manage Lake Okeechobee. This could improve the ability to [have] fewer high-volume nutrient discharges.”