*All comments become public record.
Last week, on Friday, the ACOE announced in order to lower Lake O for wet season, it would begin discharging for the next 21 days from Lake Okeechobee into the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon with an average of 500 cubic feet per second through S-80 at St Lucie Locks and Dam.
My husband, Ed, and I took aerial photos at the beginning of these discharges on 2-24-19; we continue our documentation today, and in the future. The first set below was taken on Friday, March 1st around 3pm. The second on Saturday, March 2, around 12:30 pm. In both cases, it was an incoming tide ~with more sunshine on Saturday. Obviously, one can see negative changes in water-color and clarity after one week of discharges.
Your eye in the sky,
Jacqui & Ed
Set #1, 3-1-19, 3:10pm Ed Lippisch all photos
Set #2, 3-2-19, 12:45 pm Ed Lippisch
You can click here to see what it looked like after one day on 2-24-19 to compare to what river near confluence looked like after being dumped on for one week: https://jacquithurlowlippisch.com/2019/02/25/documenting-the-discharges-slr-irl-2-24-19/
Greetings Jacqui – Thank You for all your effort! Is there a plan to solve this problem? Or are we still squabbling over which way is the best? – Thanks again – GG
George Gill …. ghgill@att.net Cell: (305) 588-2385
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Thanks Jacqui and Ed; sad to see no sea grass in the St. Lucie or Indian River Lagoon, which has devastating impacts to young fish turtles, crustaceans, etc. for potentially years to come. There is a noted University of Florida scientist who didn’t think the toxic algae came from the Lake – but your photos are indisputable! A USGS scientist working for the Corps didn’t even know there was a toxic algae bloom on the St Lucie Estuary last year -but again – your photos were invaluable! Thank you again!!!
I wonder if there was any quantifiable analysis done to come up with the 500 cfs flow – will it measurably reduce the risk of dike failure? Hard to believe it will have any benefit since the 500 cfs for 3 weeks will reduce the lake level by less than 1 inch. Is there any quantifiable relationship between sending 500 cfs to the St Lucie and reducing the need for large volume flows later – or is 500 cfs just an arbitrary amount? What has the Corps done to reduce inflows to the Lake? They operate a structure on the L-8 Canal called Lake Culvert 10A – it has conveyed almost a billion gallons of water INTO THE LAKE in the last 2 months. What has the SFWMD done to reduce inflows to the Lake from the north, east, west and south? Is there any way to track how effective all those dispersed water management projects have been in reducing inflows to the Lake? Are they being used to full capacity? Is the EAA flow equalization basin being used to full capacity? It can hold almost 3 times the volume the Corps is sending to the St Lucie over the 3 week period. There are so many questions and alternatives to sending this polluted water to the St Lucie! Thank you again for the documentation!
So happy to hear about your new position! I live at the tip of south sewells point. I love this new concept of a discharge before the summrr, for all obvious reasons. Just don’t understand why instead of send water east and west it doesn’t get sent south.
If you know why would like to know.
Russell M. 561-664-5151
Email might have been dictated excuse typos etc.
On Sun, Mar 3, 2019, 11:43 AM Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch wrote:
> Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch posted: “Last week, on Friday, the ACOE announced > in order to lower Lake O for wet season, it would begin discharging for > the next 21 days from Lake Okeechobee into the St Lucie River/Indian River > Lagoon with an average of 500 cubic feet per second through S-80 a” >