Tag Archives: 2023

We are Thankful to Share A View From Above, by Jacqui & Ed

Thanksgiving is approaching and it is time to reflect. Ed and I are grateful. We are grateful to be able to document the successes and setbacks of  the Central Everglades Restoration Plan or CERP from the air. We are thankful to have pilot friends like Dr. Scott Kuhns and professional pilot Dave Stone join us – they have been fellow River Warriors for ten years! The photos we share today do not show perfection but they do show determination. All photographs were taken on November 19th 2023 between 2 and 4pm. It is our story, all of our story,  as shown from above.

Pilot Dave Stone of Ft. Meyers is a long time River Warrior. He is pictured here with his newly built and painted Vans RV at LaBelle Municipal Airport. (Photo Ed Lippisch)

The following seven photos are of the C-43 Reservoir part of CERP.  The SFWMD had a few hiccups due to the contractor and Covid but is now “back on track.” This reservoir will be gigantic. According to the ACOE it is located on 10,700 acres of former farmland in Hendry County, Florida, west of Labelle, the Caloosahatchee River West Basin Storage (C-43) Reservoir will hold approximately 170,000 acre-feet of water, with the maximum depth ranging from 15 feet to 25 feet. To compare, the C-44 Reservoir in Martin County is on 3000 acres and should hold 15 feet too.

C-43 RESERVOIR

C-43 Reservoir is part of CERP and is under construction by the SFWMD. It is located near LaBelle along the Caloosahatchee River. (Ed Lippisch)
The ACOE Integrated Delivery Schedule, its calendar for everything,  for 2023, is aiming for 2028 to complete the building of the C-23 Reservoir.

IDS_DRAFT_090123_FOR PRINTING

LAKE OKEECHOBEE

Lake Okeechobee clear of visual algae in cooler months. Looking NE.

C-44 RESERVOIR

The C-44 Reservoir in Martin County, FL is part of CERP and Indian River Lagoon South. It is undergoing studies for seepage, so holding water but not full amount.
C-44 Reservoir is part of CERP and a component of Indian River Lagoon South.
S-308 at Port Mayaca is attached to the C-44 Canal, the canal the C-44 Reservoir is built to to clean before water through reservoir and storm water treatment area before it is released to the St. Lucie River.

ST. LUICE RIVER/IRL

The confluence of the St. Lucie River Indian River Lagoon meets at the St. Lucie Inlet built by hand by locals in 1892. Note erosion of Jupiter Island south.
October and November bring King Tides flushing out the inlet area and pushing back dark runoff and canal waters.
The Atlantic Ocean has been rough and is stirred up.
A southeastern look over the peninsula of Sewall’s Point clearly reveals the importance of tidal flow. The north and south forks and even the main do not get this extensive flushing. Due to discharges events in 2013, 2016 and 2018 seagrass loss has been significant. The goal is for the building of reservoirs and STAs of CERP to halt the damage, for that we are thankful.

 

Before the Storm, August 27, 2023

These aerials were taken by my husband, Ed Lippisch, on August 27, 2023 around 12:15pm. Other than an operational  burp from Lake Okeechobee through C-44, it’s canals C-23 and C-24  which drain Port St. Lucie, Allapattah Flats, as well as our Tidal Basin – that are causing the present discoloration and decline in water quality. On a good note, though impaired, seagrass beds are visible near the Sandbar and algae is no longer seen from 1000 feet at Port Mayaca.

As we enter the primary hurricane season it’s unfortunate the alternative canal through the Everglades Agricultural Area once considered by the ACOE  in the 1950s to alleviate the discharges is not in place. If history does indeed repeat itself, we must be prepared for more rain and Lake Okeechobee destruction added to the St. Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon.

We must keep our  eye on lake O!

Most recent ACOE/SFWMD SLR update, 8-22-23
Lake O history, ACOE/SFWMD

Rain and runoff plume exiting St. Lucie Inlet Visibile seagrasses and macroalge Sailfish Flats Sewall’s Point between the St. Luice and Indian RiverPeck’s LakeSL Inlet w/ plume

Sailfish Point on Hutchinson Island is next to St. Lucie Inlet  S-308 at Port Mayaca C44 Canal aka St. Lucie Canal – no algae visible from 1000 feet  

 

Mother Nature Holds the Cards

Helpful Charts – Where are We with L.O. Discharges 2023

The discharges have gone on for a long time. The ACOE with the support of the SFWMD began discharging to the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon on January 22, 2023 as the level of Lake Okeechobee had jumped four feet when Hurricane Ian ground through southwest Florida last September.

Then strangely algae appeared in Lake Okeechobee in February, very early in the year, and the ACOE halted and restarted discharges three times as the Colonel was uncomfortable with the visual amount of algae at S-308 in Port Mayaca. Then the weather got cooler and the the algae visually subsided and the ACOE continued the goal of getting the lake down for the next hurricane season for the lake operation schedule. For a hundred years the water that once flowed south from Lake Okeechobee has been increasingly blocked and redirected to the northern estuaries even though once there was a serious ACOE consideration in the 1950s of a third outlet south of the lake, “Plan 6.”

Today I share charts and information that is easy to understand as we enter the fourth named month of discharges. Will they stop? We have been fortunate in that the weather this year has been very dry and the lake is receding. For water managers according to the recent SFWMD Water Resource Form, current projections still have then lake between 13.5 and 14 feet on June 1st. But it seems so dry. Grass is brown and people are watering their lawns like crazy. Wouldn’t it be ironic if we go into a drought and we wish we had the water later? It has happened before. Mother Nature holds the highest cards in this poker game.

 

Chart tracking total flows to the estuary. Flows to the SLR other than discharges from L.O. are low as little rain, thus for scientists “under damaging range of 1500-2000 cfs.” Courtesy of John Mitnik Chief District Engineer and Asst. Ex. Dir. SFWMD
L.O. stages compared SFWMD Weekly Environmental Conditions Report 3-20-23
Salinity levels SLR/DEP 3-31-23
L.O. historical comparison of lake level ACOE/SFWMD. Today L.O. is reported at 14.59 feet.
Easy read chart of discharges. Courtesy Todd Thurlow eyeonlakeo.com

Florida Oceanographic Water Quality Report 3-31-23 B+

 

Ed’s St. Lucie River Update, January 15, 2023

-Eye in the sky since 2013, Ed Lippisch I am going to keep this blog post short as I already wrote another today. Yesterday, 1-15-23, at around 1:45 pm, Ed took aerials over the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon. As it has been cold and windy the past few days there has been a “Beach Hazards Statement” from the National Weather Service. In Ed’s photos, the rough, turquoise, incoming ocean waters make for a stark contrast against the darker waters of the river. I believe the ocean waters are full of sand and that is what gives the aerials the milky, almost iridescent coloring. Hopefully, the sand is not burying the dormant seagrasses in the Sandbar and Sailfish Flats. Thankfully, there is no dumping from Lake Okeechobee at this time although the river is receiving the other C-Canal water and runoff. I’ll get Ed up in the plane again soon as I have not yet flown in the Van’s RV -and I am not planning on it! 🙂 JTL

SFWMD canal and basin map.

Added 1-18-23. ACOE’s Periodic Scientists Call -Power Point 1-17-23. Periodic_Scientists_Call_2023-01-17