My river is sick
What we locals have known for quite some time now has been confirmed by health officials. Areas of the St. Lucie River are infested with blue-green algae, toxic to fish and humans.
Blooms of this organism -- actually a bacteria called microcystis -- have been identified in the Caloosahatchee River and in Lake Okeechobee, where the algae was confirmed to be toxic. Local environmental health officials are warning residents that contact with visible algae could cause skin rashes, irritated eyes, and runny noses, and that drinking water containing the algae can result in more serious health problems and is not advised.
And as bad as that is, even when the algae is not toxic it is potentially fatal to fish because it uses up the dissolved oxygen that fish normally breathe. So what is causing the algal bloom and what can we do about it?
The cause
The Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie Rivers would be running free, clear, and teeming with healthy fish populations if it weren't for one major factor. You see, the Caloosahatchee, flowing to Florida's west coast, and the St. Lucie, flowing to the east, are being used to drain Lake Okeechobee. The rocket scientists at the South Florida Water Management District and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have allowed uncounted billions of gallons of water from the lake to be discharged into the estuarine (salt-water) rivers, over the course of several years.
When the lake level is high, they say that its surrounding dike built in 1929 is in danger of failure. CLICK! You can see those bureaucratic heads just billowing smoke as they work in overdrive to think up an intelligent fix: "Hey fellas...I've got it! Rather than ruin the sugar cane fields to the south of the lake, let's destroy entire riverine ecosystems and make a million people sick! [Cue high fives all around, champagne corks popping.]
Way cool, brain surgeons. Tariff-protected sugar, nineteen times more expensive for the consumer than it would be if we imported sugar tariff-free, is more important than all of the fresh water, plants, animals, Everglades, and people in South Florida.
Solution far off
The Kissimmee River Basin that feeds Lake Okeechobee from the north was developed on the backs of citrus and cattle. To prevent flooding, the river was straightened and for decades has fed agricultural and heavy metals runoff via unfiltered water into the lake, and at higher-than-natural flow rates.
Belle Glade, Clewiston, South Bay, and Pahokee were built on vegetables and sugar -- severe lake flooding called for a dike around the lake. Now Okeechobee's water level remains unusually high, the old dike is riddled with unstable voids caused by water erosion of its limestone core, and the sugar crops block drainage to the south. Can you, dear reader, piece the puzzle together?
The Kissimmee is in the process of being restored to its natural ways, but it will be decades before it is completed. The dike? Lose it. Got to lower the lake level? Send it south where it is supposed to go. The resulting flooding? Tough. Thanks to the fresh water discharges into the St. Lucie, my own house and neighborhood regularly flood whenever we have a significant storm event, so there is no sympathy from me.
We want our healthy river restored.