Lake O is high at the start of hurricane season, and why that matters
Chad GillisLake Okeechobee is more than a foot above its target level at this time of year, and heavy rains have fallen across much of the state in recent days.
The big question for the Fort Myers-Cape Coral-Sanibel area is: will we see heavy releases when there's a toxin blue-green algae bloom on Okeechobee?
"I would be concerned if we get heavy releases, but it depends on the rainfall," said Calusa Waterkeeper Emeritus John Cassani. "It's up to Mother Nature pretty much."
Researchers have already documented evidence of a blue-green algae bloom near Beautiful Island in the Caloosahatchee River, and water advocates like Cassani fear Lake O water could help fuel that outbreak.
Hurricane season started Thursday, and a big storm early in the season could force the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to conduct large releases from Okeechobee.
A tropical low pressure system in the Gulf of Mexico is being monitored by the National Hurricane Center, and NHC is giving it a 50% chance of developing into a named storm.
Lake O is already in trouble
The latest forecasts show the system moving south and toward the Yucatan region of Mexico.
Flows as measured at the W.P. Franklin Lock and Dam in Alva (sometimes called S-79) reached 3,000 cubic feet per second earlier last week, which is a 200 hundred cubic feet per second higher than the established harm load for the estuary.
The duration of the harmful flows was only for a couple of days, so the total harm is likely nil.
But Lake Okeechobee is suffering.
Most of the lake's aquatic vegetation, which supports a world-class largemouth bass fishery, has been lost in recent years.
That's bad for the bass and bad for water quality as the vegetation acts as spawning habitat and a natural water filtration system.
Where there was 25,000 acres of submerged vegetation in 2020, now there is only 3,000 acres.
"We're pretty unhappy with how the lake is now," said Florida Audubon scientist Paul Gray. "When (the lake schedule) called for releases, they didn't make them. They kept water in the lake that's equal to about 2 feet, and we would be down around 12 feet but that wouldn't be good for the estuaries. The trade-off is we're going to start the summer really deep."
2023 a preview to new lake management plan?
Gray said this year played out similar to how the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer's new lake management plan (called the Lake Okeechobee System Operating Manual, or LOSOM) will work in the future.
That plan is expected to be adopted later this year.
"This is almost a preview of what LOSOM will do," Gray said.
The Caloosahatchee River was connected to Lake Okeechobee through a series of canals with the goal of draining the Everglades for farming and development.
That happened about a century ago, and in recent decades the river has suffered from too much or too little water flows as well as nutrient pollution from the big lake.
Discharge rates from the lake mostly impact seagrasses, oysters and the makeup of the estuarine waters. The pollution can turn river waters toxic to the point that it impacts human health.
Breathing in aerosolized toxins can be dangerous, especially for people with existing respiratory issues.
A nasty blue-green algae bloom in 2018 caused matts of thick organic material to pile up in canals and tributaries in Fort Myers and Cape Coral. Some residents moved away from the area that summer, and others rented hotels elsewhere to ride out the bloom.
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A state of emergency was declared for Lee County during that event, which coincided with an equally devasting red tide bloom along the coast.
That blue-green algae bloom started on Lake Okeechobee early in the summer and reached Fort Myers by July.
Gray said he doesn't expect to see larger releases to Lee County's main waterway, not at least for several weeks.
"I don't see it (large releases to the west coast) for a while," Gray said. "If the lake gets up to 16 feet or so, that could happen."
Gray said Everglades restoration (sometimes called the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, or CERP) is needed to help balance water needs across the system, which stretches from just south of Orlando to Florida Bay.
Cassani said he's grown leery of many Everglades projects, saying that spending money doesn't necessarily equate to improved water quality.
"You can't buy your way out of these problems, and restoration is questionably feasible ― like planting sea grass in the Caloosahatchee," Cassani said. "It just doesn't want to take."
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