HEALTH

Corps to stop Lake Okeechobee discharges to St. Lucie River | Graphic

Tyler Treadway
tyler.treadway@tcpalm.com
Water from Lake Okeechobee pours through the St. Lucie Lock and Dam near Stuart on June 16, 2016.

After 279 days and more than 218 billion gallons of water, Lake Okeechobee discharges to the St. Lucie River are stopping.

The Army Corps of Engineers announced Thursday the gates at the St. Lucie Lock and Dam will shut Friday morning and stay that way except for occasional releases of local rainfall runoff.

The end of the summer rainy season, a drier-than-normal forecast for winter and Lake O's elevation drop below 15 feet 6 inches prompted the halt, said Candida Bronson, acting operations chief for the Corps in Florida. "Barring an unexpected heavy-rain event, we expect the recession to continue."

Since starting Jan. 30, more than 218 billion gallons of Lake O water has been dumped into the river.

To put that in perspective:

  • It's the eighth-largest discharge event since 1965. The largest was 507 billion gallons from October 1969 to May 1970.
  • It's enough to flood the city of Stuart with 123 feet of water, and that's enough to cover all but the top 11 feet of the iconic water tower in downtown Stuart.
  • It's the amount of water that goes over Niagara Falls (both the U.S. and Canadian sides) in just under 17 days.

The discharged water from Lake O carried with it:

  • Nearly 300,000 pounds of phosphorus
  • More than 2.7 million pounds of nitrogen
  • More than 51.6 million pounds of sediment

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DAMAGE = WATER + TIME

The environmental damage to the river "isn't just about how much water was discharged," said Mark Perry, executive director of the Florida Oceanographic Society in Stuart, "it's about how long the discharges lasted."

This year's discharges, for example, dumped about 218 billion gallons of lake water into the St. Lucie over 279 days.

Discharges in 1998 totaled 339.7 billion gallons in just 120 days.

All that freshwater lowered the salinity in the river estuary for several months, which killed most of the oysters and sea grass in the normally brackish water.

"We'll know a lot more about how the river is going to rebound this spring when oysters spawn and sea grass starts its growing season," Perry said. "The question is: Will there be enough sea grass left to seed and expand and enough oysters left to repopulate the beds that have been decimated?"

Lake Okeechobee discharges pour into St. Lucie River, Indian River Lagoon | Graphic

Oyster and sea grass beds in the river around Stuart took the biggest hit because salinity levels were dangerously low for several months. Beds closer to the St. Lucie Inlet fared better because of salty water on incoming tides.

The hope is that, with the discharges over, those incoming tides can bring not only salty water but juvenile oysters and sea grass seeds farther upstream.

"The river can handle a large amount of water over a short period of time because that mimics the natural pattern during the rainy season," Perry said. "The estuary expects to get a lot of water all at once followed by a dry period to allow the rainwater to flush out to the ocean."

The lack of salinity and the nutrients allowed a huge algae bloom in Lake Okeechobee to move into and spread throughout the river. Thick mats of putrid — and toxic — algae covered several bays, canals and marinas.

ECONOMIC DAMAGE

The algae, and the international media attention it garnered, also damaged water-related businesses.

"Several businesses closed up and everybody's revenue was down for the summer season, especially in the fishing and marine industries," said Joseph A. Catrambone, CEO of the Martin County Chamber of Commerce. "From there, the discharges had a domino effect. Hotel occupancy was down and restaurants, gas stations and gift shops suffered. It was not a good summer at all."

In July and August, the federal Small Business Administration set up an office at the Martin County fairgrounds so businesses could apply for loans to help offset losses caused by the discharges and algae blooms.

According to SBA figures:

  • A total of 29 businesses in four counties applied for loans, and 15 got loans totaling $898,000.
  • In Martin County, 15 businesses applied and nine got loans totaling $329,000.
  • In St. Lucie County, three businesses applied and two got loans totaling $39,900

Sales of several waterfront homes "did not happen because of the algae blooms," said Joan Rogers, president of the Realtor Association of Martin County and an agent at the Berkshire Hathaway real estate firm in Stuart.

While the river's environmental recovery will take time, Catrambone expects the economy to bounce back quickly.

"There are no rentals available for the (winter) season, for example," he said. "That tells you we're able to recuperate quickly. I don't see any lasting effect on the economy."

The international media coverage of the algae blooms was "a double-edged sword" for the recreational fishing industry, said Fred Caimotto, manager of the Snook Nook bait shop in Jensen Beach.

"Getting the word out about this disaster is the only way it's going to get fixed," said Caimotto, son of the shop's longtime owner, Henry Caimotto. "But all the bad publicity puts you at a disadvantage when you're trying to make a living off the water."

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