HEALTH

Army Corps of Engineers: Discharges more likely if Lake Okeechobee keeps rising so quickly

Tyler Treadway
Treasure Coast Newspapers

Lake Okeechobee discharges to the St. Lucie River could be likely this summer if the lake continues to rise quickly, the Army Corps of Engineers said Monday.

The lake's elevation has risen more than a foot in the last month to 12 feet, 4 inches Monday morning.

"It's way too early to say if we'll need to make releases to the St. Lucie River," Col. Andrew Kelly, the Corps commander for Florida, said during a phone-in news conference Monday afternoon, but "the rising lake gives us pause."

There's no specific lake elevation that would cause the Corps to start discharges, Kelly said. 

More: Lake O discharges to St. Lucie River unlikely for now

But discharges could be possible, he added, "if we were to see the lake level continue to increase at the rate it is now and get into the 13- to 14-foot range early in the rainy season."

The rainy season typically starts around June 1; this year it started May 15. Dry season typically starts in October.

The first indicator of imminent discharges, Kelly said, would be stopping the flow from the C-44 Canal, which connects Lake O and the St. Lucie, into the lake.

Streaks of what appears to be blue-green algae can be seen June 17 from an airplane 2,000 feet above Lake Okeechobee about a mile west of Port Mayaca in Martin County.

Water from the canal, which collects runoff from farms in western Martin County,  has been "back flowing" into the lake for a couple of months.

"If we stop taking that basin water" into the lake and start releasing it through the St. Lucie Lock and Dam into the St. Lucie River, Kelly said, "that would indicate that we're posturing for lake releases."

Lake O discharges like those in 2013, 2016 and 2018 can contain toxic blue-green algae that blooms in the river and covers the estuary with thick mats that look like guacamole and smell like death.

More:Lake O discharges, not septic tanks, cause massive algae blooms

The toxic blooms can make people sick and wreak havoc on the river's ecosystem and on businesses that depend on clean water — everything from bait shops to hotels to real estate.

More:Study shows people breathed in toxins from St. Lucie River algae blooms

Keeping an eye on algae

The Corps is keeping a close eye on blue-green algae blooms in the lake, Kelly said, but not taking any specific action at this point.

Jacqui Thurlow Lippisch of Sewall's Point, a member of the South Florida Water Management District board, photographed what appears to be a blue-green algae bloom in Lake O while flying June 17 with her husband, Dr. Ed Lippisch.

"There were long streaks of it that looked like giant fingers reaching out," Thurlow-Lippisch said. "It was everywhere in the lake; ... but the greenest, brightest part of the bloom was about a mile and a half off Port Mayaca."

The bloom can't be seen from the ground at Port Mayaca, the western end of the C-44 Canal connecting the lake to the St. Lucie River, "but from an airplane, you see it clearly right off the shore," Thurlow-Lippisch said.

More: Blue-green algae blooms in C-44 Canal in April earliest in memory

Algae also is concentrated on Lake O's west coast near the Moore Haven Lock and Dam, the eastern end of the C-43 Canal connecting the lake to the Caloosahatchee River.

"On the west side of the lake, the bloom is closer to the shoreline," Thurlow-Lippisch said, "not right at it, but maybe half a mile to a mile away." 

Toxic blue-green algae was reported June 16 at a boat ramp on the Caloosahatchee River in eastern Lee County.

A county crew reported seeing "specks" of algae on the water's surface and in the water column, as well as "some streaks and accumulations" of algae along a seawall.

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection found the algae contained the toxin microcystin at a rate of 4.3 parts per billion. That's higher than the 1 part per billion considered safe to drink and about half the 8 parts per billion considered too toxic to touch.

More: See all of TCPalm's coverage of the Indian River Lagoon

Tyler Treadway is an environment reporter who specializes in issues facing the Indian River Lagoon. Support his work on TCPalm.com.  Contact him at 772-221-4219 and tyler.treadway@tcpalm.com.