Don't Trash Our Treasure with Louis Aguirre, Local 10 News - March 31, 2024
Communities on both Florida coasts are bracing for impact as they monitor the billions of gallons of water being discharged by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from Lake Okeechobee since mid-February.
The discharges flow east to the St. Lucie River and west to the Caloosahatchee River, to alleviate the higher-than-normal water levels caused by one very wet dry season fueled by El Nino. But as the outflows increase, so do the fears of red tide and other harmful algae blooms.
Red tide is caused by naturally occurring microscopic algae. But, a 2022 study from the University of Florida found that human activity, particularly discharges from the Caloosahatchee River, helped fuel coastal blooms.
According to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, to date, 46 billion gallons of Lake Okeechobee water have been released into the Saint Lucie River, while another 118 billion gallons have poured into the Caloosahatchee River.
“The decision I had to make was to lean more toward flood risk management,” said Col. James Booth, the Jacksonville District Commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. “[I] acknowledge when I made that decision, I’m having a harmful impact to the environment.”
While we have not seen mass fish mortality, it’s important to note that it’s the hot summer temperatures that exacerbate algae blooms.
All of this underscores why there is an urgent need to repair the flow of water that historically fed the Everglades before the late 1940s. That massive project has finally been kicked into high gear.
Last year, ground was broken on the Everglades Agricultural Area Reservoir, also known as the EAA. The project is comprised of a 10,000-acre reservoir and a 6,500-acre stormwater treatment area that will send clean water south, alleviating the need for harmful discharges to the east and west. But that won’t be finished until 2030.
It’s the largest restoration project ever, with billions of dollars from both state and federal funds at work across millions of acres. Local 10 Anchor and Environmental Advocate Louis Aguirre got a progress report from The Everglades Foundation.
“It takes time to build this infrastructure and get the system restored,” explained Steve Davis, the foundation’s chief science officer. “You all may know that this area south of the lake was drained for agriculture… today it’s mostly sugarcane farming… that [is what] disconnected the Everglades from the lake.”
Everglades Restoration is about repairing the damage that humans have done.
“I refer to it as bypass surgery for the Everglades because it allows us to take water from the lake, store it, clean it, and send it south,” said Davis. “That’s important because we know that lake water is polluted… we know the water running off those sugar fields is even more polluted. We’re making progress – when that reservoir is complete we’ll be around 70% there. At this time we’re approaching a halfway point.”