I am once again honored to share Dr. Goforth’s work:
Excerpt from: A Brief Discussion of Lake Okeechobee Pollution G. Goforth, PhD. 9/18/2018:
“For calendar year 2017, the phosphorus loading to the Lake Okeechobee approached 2.3 million pounds, the highest level ever recorded, and the 5-yr average phosphorus loading to the lake was more than 5 times the pollution allocation established for the watershed. This pollution target is called the “Total Maximum Daily Load” or “TMDL.” The result: an algae bloom covered 90 percent of the lake this summer (NOAA 2018).
In addition, the state’s annual “progress report” on efforts to reduce pollution of the lake underestimates the actual loading to the lake. For the last two years the FDEP has published reports indicating phosphorus loading to the lake has decreased – yet these claims conflict with the measured loads to the lake, e.g., the average load measured in 2017 was 60% higher than reported by FDEP…”
Here in brevard county crimminal county commissioner Curt Smith has promised Dr. Duane DeFreese a 100,000 a year job. All he has to do is lie , Is this how our government is supposed to work. Duane DeFreese will be speaking in Fort Pierce today and he is probably going to say how pumping oxygen through muck and makeing the lagoon acidic is what needs to happen. Duane Defreese is a very inteligent and likeable guy and I hate to see him used like a tool by some crimminal politicians.
The report fails to take into account 2018 rainfall. I suspect everytime it rains on those raised beds of crops the fertilizer washes out into the troughs between the rows and flows into the culverts and ditches surrounding these plots leading to the canals carrying the runoff to lake Ocheechobee. Then more is applied to maintain crop yield. Compound it with 2017 data already out of control and it hits heavy Caloosa and St. Lucie Heavy. Many of the ditches and canals don’t even hit the lake and exit directly into the major Estuaries surrounding the outflows. Nobody is taking these exit routes into account, or it isn’t being talked about. A reservoir south of Lake Ocheechobee is just going to move toxic waste water from one area to another. I think what is needed is a series of smaller reservoirs closer to the runoff from the regional canals surrounding the major sources of pollution. Test and treat it there to a standard before sending it further downstream.
Thank you for your comment. Dr Goforth has a website if you wish to speak to him directly. I am in no position to comment on his work. We are all trying to find ways to better this situation that is killing the waters, for me shining the light is most important. I like your ideas. Thanks so much for writing.