Editorial: Crisis grows below the algae on the Caloosahatchee River
We see the massive toxic algae blooms smothering the Caloosahatchee River, killing marine life, harming tourism and keeping us from swimming, fishing and boating in this once blue treasure.
But this problem runs much deeper than what we see on the surface. This crisis will not be fixed tomorrow. There are too many pieces to this complex environmental puzzle to expect a quick solution.
For the past two weeks, as the toxic blue-green algae has spread up and down the river, just about everyone has weighed in on the crisis, demanding relief from Lake Okeechobee discharges into our estuary. Gov. Rick Scott declared a state of emergency.
Everyone is pointing fingers at the Army Corps of Engineers for the massive water pollution problem. U.S. Sens. Marco Rubio, R-West Miami, and Bill Nelson, D-Orlando, and U.S. Rep. Francis Rooney, R-Naples, have called on the Corps and President Donald Trump to keep the lid on releases. Environmentalists are screaming for action.
The University of Florida Water Institute report, published three years ago and considered the most comprehensive report on the state of Florida’s water, said: “The solution is enormous increases in storage and treatment of water both north and south of the lake. Existing and currently authorized storage and treatment projects are insufficient to achieve these goals. ...”
Needed action
Curing this crisis must come in stages:
• The federal government must continue to expedite funding. It has been more than a billion dollars behind in splitting the cost with the state for various water projects that provide storage and treatment of water and were part of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan.
• The timetable for reinforcement of the Herbert Hoover Dike around Lake Okeechobee must quicken. It is scheduled to be completed in 2022, but we can’t wait that long.
• The Caloosahatchee Reservoir project, which will hold 55 billion gallons of water, mainly from local basin runoff, needs a treatment component. Storing dirty water and then releasing dirty water solves nothing.
• The Kissimmee River restoration project must continue in earnest.
• Storage wells are needed north of the lake that could stop up to 40 percent of the water that flows into the lake.
• The $1.4 billion Everglades Agricultural Area reservoir project, another important storage and treatment effort south of the lake, must receive federal approval and funding without significant delays.
Let’s deal with the algae now, because that is the crisis in front of us, but the facts are this crisis has been building for 100 years as land east of the Everglades was developed into massive residential and commercial palaces, squeezing the River of Grass, eliminating floodplains and disrupting the natural flow of water into Florida Bay. A major road, U.S. 41, became a dam keeping water from its natural destination.
Our biggest holding tank for water, Lake Okeechobee, can’t take the load. Its banks and levies aren’t strong enough to hold more than 17 feet of water. When lake levels are too high, the Corps sends billions of gallons of water filled with pollutants, like nitrogen and phosphorous, to Southwest Florida, or in much lower quantities down the St. Lucie River.
The algae may clear soon, but it will be back unless federal and state officials make all of the current water projects on the books a priority. The algae is nature’s warning sign now, but we could be in for much worse without a dedicated effort to the restoration plan.
The News-Press and Naples Daily News are part of the USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida.