SE Florida counters Lake O releases with organized efforts

BOCA RATON, Fla. – Local activists are pressing lawmakers to make environmental changes as the St. Lucie River is being dumped with billions of gallons of murky water from Lake Okeechobee following record rains last month.

While many Southwest Florida business owners are concerned with the muddying of gulf waters off the coast, local residents and activists in Southeast Florida are troubled by what they consider to be the deteriorating appearance of the St. Lucie River.

“It’s just progressively gotten worse since I was younger,” said longtime resident Theresa Morris. “I remember swimming in it. It was crystal clear like Caribbean clear water.”

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers responded to unusually high water levels at Lake Okeechobee by releasing 3.7 bullion gallons of water daily into the Gulf of Mexico through the Caloosahatchee River and about 2 billion gallons to the Atlantic Ocean through the St. Lucie River.

Many residents who live near the river, like Boca Raton resident Evan Miller, are concerned with the condition of the St. Lucie River ecosystem and want the releases to stop.

“The water right now is full of foam, pollutants,” he said. “The sea grass is dying out and the animals are leaving or dying off too. Too much fresh water into the salt water estuary here just destroys it so it’s definitely not a solution to keep it coming this way.”

Miller is the founder of Citizens for Clean Water, an organization that holds rallies, protests and concerts to call for an end to the Lake Okeechobee releases.

C4CW was founded in 2013, when according to activists, 136 billion gallons of water were released into the St. Lucie River.

Miller, a surfer, said he was inspired to organize once his lifestyle was threatened by the releases.

“The reason why I was so upset and did that is because we couldn’t surf here in our backyard,” he said.

C4CW organized a massive protest against the Lake O releases in Stuart on Feb. 11. The organization has been closely monitoring developments with the lake.

“Every year or so it comes through and it’s pretty nasty, but it cleans itself out and it kind of dissipates,” Morris said. “But this has been the worst I’ve ever seen it.”