The discharges of polluting water from Lake Okeechobee and the C-44, C-23 and C24 agricultural drainage canals are having major impacts on the St. Lucie River Estuary, Indian River Lagoon and nearshore reef habitats. Salinities are at critically low lethal levels for oyster reefs in the middle estuary and the pollution is covering the seagrass beds in the outer estuary and Indian River Lagoon killing these valuable habitats as well. The pollution discharges are going out the St. Lucie Inlet and covering the State Park coral reefs and living worm reefs.
The current destructive water conditions started June 6, 2013 and will apparently continue as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the South Florida Water Management District say there is nowhere else to put the water and public safety around Lake Okeechobee is at risk. Currently the St. Lucie Estuary is receiving 3.1 Billion Gallons per day which includes approximately 36,600 lbs. of Nitrogen, 7,600 lbs. of Phosphorus and 241 cubic yards of silt every day, which turns to muck.
This pollution has already caused algae blooms in the middle part of the Estuary. According to the Martin County Health Department the bacteria levels in the estuary are at the highest levels ever recorded and their advisories are warning the public to “avoid contact with the water”. This is tough on the waterfront communities of Martin and St. Lucie Counties where water-related business generates $840 million annually including 26,500 jobs and where waterfront property is the most valued.
Several “protected” areas are now being damaged including two State Aquatic Preserves, the Indian River Lagoon National Estuary, NOAA Essential Fish Habitat, and EPA Critical Habitat for Seagrass, the St. Lucie Inlet State Preserve Reefs, and the St. Lucie Nearshore Reefs nominated for National Marine Sanctuary designation. These estuaries and coastal ecosystems are habitat for over 4,000 species of plants and animals, including 36 endangered and threatened species. Where is the protection for these special “protected” areas? Where are the agencies that are charged with enforcing these protections?
We must demand that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the South Florida Water Management District stop all pollution discharges from the major drainage canals of C- 23, C-24, C-25 and C-44 (which includes the Lake Okeechobee pollution discharges) IMMEDIATELY. Lake Okeechobee discharges are the largest single freshwater source to the St. Lucie Estuary, more than twice the volume of any other sub-basin in the St. Lucie Estuary watershed. We must demand moving the water South from the Lake to save the coastal Estuaries and restore the River of Grass.
Mark D. Perry, Executive Director
Florida Oceanographic Society, July 22, 2013