Effects being felt from Lake Okeechobee water releases

Billions of gallons of water are now flowing into the Caloosahatchee River, leaving water off SWFL coastlines looking brown and murky.

Everett Austin fishes weekly, and he’s noticed the effects these water releases have had on the water quality and fish.

“It’s just destroying the ecosystem,” Austin said.

About 2.6 billion gallons are being released daily from Lake Okeechobee to the Caloosahatchee River. The Army Corps of Engineers says this is earlier than normal after record-breaking rainfall in May.

“We all know what happens when Lake O releases start here—the water turns brown, we start to get sea grass die offs, oyster bed die offs,” said Daniel Andrews.

The releases are needed to relive the aging Herbert Hoover Dike that is in the process of being repaired. But the releases also cause murky brown water and even worse problems underneath the surface.

“We tend to focus on the river and right at the beach cause that’s what we can see but these things can have problems off shore as well,” said Darren Rumbold, a professor of marine science at FGCU.

A reservoir south of Lake Okeechobee to store this water is making strides federally as well.

“What we have seen is that when the discharges stop, an incredible amount of recovery comes back. Just a few weeks ago the water was crystal clear. We were seeing bait fish in the river. It looked very healthy out there. So nature is very resilient if you give it opportunity but we need to work on the longer term opportunities,” Andrews said.

But Rumbold says it’s just one project that could help, and not a permanent solution.

“We really need the entire Everglades restoration plan before we can start to expect change or reduction in these high flows,” Rumbold said.

Repairs to the dike could take another five years. But Captains for Clean Water want the reservoir done in two or three.

The entire Everglades restoration project could take 20 to 30 years.