“Right now billions of gallons of fertilizer, sewage, and legacy pollution from Lake Okeechobee are spewing into the St. Lucie River, carrying a new threat of toxic algae. Water managers may say Irma left them no choice, but of course that’s a half-truth…”
*Previous paragraph shared with permission from Bullsugar.org. Please read the rest of Peter Girard’s post here: (http://www.bullsugar.org/eaa_reservoir_plan_needs_sfwmd_model)
Link: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izaNH73GPoI)
Link:(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMkyBDq-4QE)
Documentation of primary and secondary plumes at St Lucie Inlet caused predominantly from human directed ACOE/SFWMD discharges post Irma and other from Lake Okeechobee & canals C-44, C-23, C-24, C-25. 10am, September 30, 2017. Primary plume out 3 miles; secondary 3 1/2 and not quite south to Peck’s Lake. We must continue to #ReplumbFlorida #forthefuture #forthewildlife #forthekidz #fortheeconomy for our #indianriverlagoon JTL/EL
Hi, Jacqui. Pretty sure we saw you flying and shooting these photos this morning, when my husband, dog and I first arrived at Bathtub Reef Beach. We walked south to the inlet and back. The ocean water was greenish around Bathtub Reef but quickly turned brown as we walked south, and smelled like river water, not ocean. Some teenage boys were casting nets and getting little mullet then catching snook right at the breakwater, so the fishing is still okay. Our dog Radar, a German Shepherd who loves to swim, took a taste of the water right at the inlet, like he does sometimes in any water he swims in. In salt water he immediately stops drinking. Today he drank a lot of water… while I yelled at him to “Come!” and “Leave it.” There must be a lot of fresh water on top of the salt water right now. A few hours later he had diarrhea. 🙁
Great you saw the plane..we must have seen you too! Yes the animals are very affected by the foul water and they drink unknowingly. They can become very sick. Hope feeling better. Thank you for words and insights.
Your photos of the plumes of fouled waters are always haunting.
They are sometimes. Need to scare us into action. Good to hear from you. Hope all is well on your side of state.
Jacqui, Please run for Stuart Commission, so we can get a consensus to hire a full time River Advocate to file all the administrative complaints and lawsuits necessary to stop this forever; the politicians are never going to do enough unless they are forced to do it. Stuart is the biggest victim; the plume of filth and toxic pollution wraps all the way around the City on its way to the Inlet. Mac Stuckey
Thank you Mac. I will keep my eyes and options open. The discharges have particularly impacted the city…the city that was originally named “Stuart on the St Lucie” for obvious reasons.
We had 11 inchs of rain here in Palm Bay yesterday and lagoon is full of fresh water . Hopefully calcium cloride salt can keep salt water shellfish from dieing.. When water goes down I’ll know.
One thing I have always loved about the ocean and lagoon is situations are always fluid. You see all kinds of things going on one day and the next day everything is differant. Here strong winds from the east have been keeping. rainwater pushed up in the lagoon. The hurricane coming up in the Gulf may bring more strong rains and wind from the east. In many places the old US1 roadbed is very low and close to the shore of the lagoon. These acid filled rain runoffs may reclaim some of the calcium coquina that was removed from the water many years ago This should become calcium cloride salt that is desperatly needed right now.