Corps to ‘suspend’ discharges ■ Announcement met with measured enthusiasm from Negron, Perry By Tyler Treadway tyler.treadway@scripps 772-221-4219 “Long past due.” “It’s about time.” The announcement Friday afternoon the Army Corps of Engineers expects to “suspend” discharges from Lake Okeechobee to the St. Lucie River estuary Monday was met with measured enthusiasm from state Sen. Joe Negron, a Stuart Republican who heads a Senate committee looking to reroute the releases, and Mark Perry, executive director of the Stuart-based Florida Oceanographic Society. Lt. Col. Tom Greco, the Corps’ deputy commander for South Florida, said drier weather “now starting to take hold in the area” brought about the decision to suspend the discharges, meaning they could be reinstated. “Our focus is now shifting toward retaining water in the lake to ensure a viable supply for the approaching dry season,” Greco said in a prepared statement, “while still monitoring for heavy rain events that might force future adjustments in flows.” The Corps also is See DISCHARGES, 11A Article Continued Below See DISCHARGES on Page A11 DISCHARGES from 1A dropping the target flow west from the lake to the Caloosahatchee Estuary to 349.8 million gallons a day. The Corps will continue to allow runoff from the 25-mile-long St. Lucie Canal, which connects the lake and the estuary, to pass through the St. Lucie Lock and Dam. As of midnight Thursday, water was flowing through the dam at a rate of 765.2 million gallons a day, with 13 percent of that from local runoff. STARTEd IN MAy The Corps began releasing water from the lake May 8 to reduce pressure on the aging Herbert Hoover Dike, and has increased and decreased the discharges according to rainfall. The discharges peaked at slightly more than 3 billion gallons a day Aug. 16. According to data from the South Florida Water Management District, about 132.5 billion gallons of water have been released from the lake, 62 percent of the total flow through the St. Lucie Lock and Dam. Another 81.2 billion gallons, 38 percent of the flow, have been added by local rainfall runoff from the C-44 (St. Lucie) Canal. The water from Lake Okeechobee has dumped 140,623 pounds of phosphorus and more than 1.3 million pounds of nitrogen to the St. Lucie River estuary. Local runoff from the C-44 Canal has added 219,129 pounds of phosphorus and 1.2 million pounds of nitrogen. The combination of freshwater and high amounts of phosphorus and nitrogen lowers the salinity in the naturally brackish estuary, feeds toxic algae blooms and dangerous levels of bacteria while killing estuarine plants and animals. The lake level was 15.57 feet Friday morning. Under its water management plan, the 2008 Lake Okeechobee Regulation Schedule, the Corps tries to keep the lake between 12.5 and 15.5 feet depending on the time of year. Good TIMING Its about time, Perry of the Florida Oceanographic Society said Friday afternoon when told the Corps planned to suspend the releases. The lake is down around 15 and a half feet and its late in the (rainy) season. Weve been wanting (the Corps) to do this as soon as possible. Perry said the move comes at a good time. With the full moon weve got now, were having some strong tides, he said. Stopping the discharges will allow those tides to push salinity back into the estuary. Perry added: Its good news; Im very happy. Well, not very happy. Ill be very happy if (the corps) can suspend the discharges throughout the upcoming dry season. Negron called the Corps action good news, but long past due. ... When the lake is below 16 feet, there shouldnt be any releases. Negron said he and his committee now will focus on doing everything we can to make sure were not in this position again (to get Lake O discharges into the estuary) when the rainy season returns. Weve got to give the estuary and (Indian River) Lagoon time to start healing. ... We wont be satisfied until not one single ounce of Lake Okeechobee water winds up in the lagoon or estuary. SENd IT SouTh Meanwhile, a $2.3 million project pushed by Negrons committee is starting to have an effect. From Aug. 22 to Oct. 13, the water management district spent $485,053 of the money to pump about 53.9 billion gallons of water - about half from Lake O and half from water conservation areas south of the lake to make room for it - to move more water south toward the Everglades rather than to the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee estuaries. The cost of what the district calls maximized pumping comes to about 9 cents for every 100 gallons. Jeff Kivett, the districts director of operations, engineering and construction, said the water pumped so far is roughly equivalent to taking about 2 inches of depth off Lake O plus 2 inches off the water conservation areas. The project is part of $2.8 million in proposals the district recommended to Negrons committee and were approved by the states Joint Legislative Budget Commission. Most of the remaining money would pay to store water on public and private lands. Its a good short-term solution, Negron said of the pumping, but the long-term solution is for all the water to go south.
Posted on: Sat, 19 Oct 2013 11:22:22 +0000