A few months ago, one of our E-Newsletter articles told you about the Army Corps of Engineers new approach to managing water levels in Lake Okeechobee. Termed LOSOM for Lake Okeechobee System Operations Manual, the Corps has lowered the water level of the lake to the point there will be no polluted releases like shown above into the St Lucie River that has devasted the Indian River Lagoon and notably fewer of them west to the Gulf via the Caloosahatchee River. Now thanks to an article by Kimberly Miller with the USA Today Network that appeared in the August 18th edition of the Sarasota Herald Tribue, we have an informative update on the prevailing conditions in the lake.
The article reports that the lower water levels from the ongoing drought have allowed more sunshine to reach submerged eel grass that is a prime habitat for fish and absorbs excess nutrients from manure and fertilizer in stormwater runoff that turns the water brown. The lower water levels also allowed state agencies to dredge portions of the lake to encourage wetland habitat plants like spikerush, purple-blooming pickerelweed and a variety of water lilies to take root. More native plants helps create cleaner water in the lake.
Years ago, before the Herbert Hoover Dike was installed tuning the lake into a reservoir, the lake would periodically overflow sending a slow stream of clean, freshwater south into the Everglades. The fresh water nourished the Everglades and eventually flowed into Florida Bay providing much needed fresh water moderating the Bay’s salinity. Today, without the overflows from the lake, the Everglades is alarmingly dry and Florida Bay has become very salty threatening sealife.
For those of us on the Suncoast, the LOSOM procedure and restoration work at Lake Okeechobee is very important because it means there will be fewer releases into the Caloosahatchee River, the source of excess nutrients that have often contributed to Red Tide blooms in the Gulf. In addition, based on current lake conditions, when we do get releases into the river, the water quality will be significantly improved. That’s definitely good news for the Suncoast.