Dozens turn out to give Army Corps input on how to manage Lake Okeechobee releases

Chris Davison doesn't want to see a repeat of 2018, when thick mats of rotting toxic algae blanketed some area canals for months. 

The hotelier wants Lake Okeechobee managed like it has been this year, not like it was during the lost summer of muck. 

"It's allowed us to make some investments in our business — that we didn't last year —knowing that we would recuperate the cash," Davison said of clear water conditions found along the coast this year.  "If we know we're going to get huge releases we're going to go from the 'spending money, investing' mode to the 'don't spend any money, survive, I don't know what's else is coming next' mode. Then you just trying to pay your staff and trying not to terminate anybody." 

Davison, vice president at the Island Inn on Sanibel, was one of about 60 residents and business owners who met Monday with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Cape Coral to talk about Lake Okeechobee releases. 

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Since 2008 the Army Corps has typically kept the surface of the level of Lake Okeechobee between 12.5 and 15.5 feet above sea level to prevent flooding while also providing water for farm fields, urbanized areas and natural systems in the historic Everglades. 

But the Army Corps allowed the lake this past dry season to plummet below 12 feet to help aquatic vegetation in the lake and to create more space in Okeechobee for storage during the rainy season. 

The idea was to release water before the blue-green algae hit the lake, not after. 

And it worked — at least it has so far this year. 

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The Army Corps has not conducted large-scale releases to the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie rivers, which were artificially connected to Lake Okeechobee in order to drain the Everglades for farming and development. 

Tim Gyson, who works on lake management for the Army Corps, said the agency has received more than 8,000 comments on what's called the Lake Okeechobee System Operating Manual, or LOSOM. 

"Some people want to see the lake held a lot higher," Gyson said. "A lot of people want the lake to be held lower. And a lot of times (what people want) are exact opposites."

Gyson said the strongest desire expressed in farming areas just south of Lake Okeechobee and in the Homestead area is to slow the study down and use science instead of politics. 

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The top comment in areas like the east and west coast was to speed up the new schedule and to operate the lake with flexibility that was used this year until the new schedule is ready. 

Cape Coral Mayor Joe Coviello said the area doesn't want polluted water from the lake when it contains algae. 

"We had a problem with huge releases, and it got into our canals and it just festers in there and get worse and worse; but I think we're in good shape because they did manage the lake differently this dry season," Coviello said. "Managing the lake at lower levels is healthy for the lake and it's good for us."

Allowing lake levels to drop allowed some aquatic vegetation that was lost during Hurricane Irma to regenerate. 

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It's also improved water clarity along the coasts as opposed to years where summer releases were conducted. 

"This year the water is the best I've seen in a long, long time," Coviello said. "When I go out and see brown in the river and brown out into the Gulf, it's coming from the lake. This year i'm seeing the blue and green colors out by Sanibel that I haven't seen in a long time."

Davison said some businesses are starting to put blooms in their financial forecasts. 

"We've always had risk analysis for hurricane impacts, and this is along the same line," he said. "The major difference is when a business is looking at some sources of risk, they look for insurance tor some way to mitigate that risk. With this, there is no insurance. There is no mitigating this risk."

Connect with this reporter: @ChadGillisNP on Twitter. 

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