Army Corps to reduce discharges from Lake Okeechobee starting Friday

Staff report | Treasure Coast Newspapers

Show Caption Hide Caption Lake Okeechobee discharges begin June 1 Environmental reporter Tyler Treadway reports on the first Lake Okeechobee discharges of 2018 from the St. Lucie Lock and Dam in Stuart.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will reduce flows from Lake Okeechobee beginning Friday.

The Corps plans to reduce flows at the St. Lucie Lock and Dam to the St. Lucie Estuary to 756 million gallons per day and 1.9 billion gallons per day to the west toward the Caloosahatchee Estuary.

More: Army Corps of Engineers working to store, move water to avoid Lake Okeechobee discharges

Water levels in the lake and decreased inflows prompted the reduction.

"The discharges over the past three weeks have stopped the rise in the lake," said Col. Jason Kirk, Army Corps Jacksonville District commander.

"Inflows have also slowed since late May. Based on current conditions, the guidance under the Lake Okeechobee Regulation Schedule calls for reduced flows."

As of Thursday morning, the lake was at 14.02 feet.

The Corps will release water to the St. Lucie Estuary from the lake in a "pulse" fashion, which means flows will vary during the seven-day release period. Additional runoff from rain in the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie basins also could result in flows that exceed targets.

More: Where's the algae? All the reported sites since Lake Okeechobee discharges started June 1

Rain is in the forecast for the next several days.

"The pulse releases will be set up to include two consecutive days of no flow for the St. Lucie Estuary," said Kirk. "This should allow some tidal flushing, which will help aquatic life in the estuary."

The Corps is working with state officials to determine what other actions can be taken to address water management challenges in south Florida.

This announcement came on the heels of Wednesday's request from Gov. Rick Scott, who told the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to issue an emergency order urging the Army Corps of Engineers to "send it south."

More: Gov. Rick Scott tells DEP to urge Army Corps to redirect Lake Okeechobee discharges south

By "it," he means Lake Okeechobee water that's been carrying blue-green algae blooms — some of it toxic — to the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers since the Army Corps started discharging excess lake water east and west on June 1.

"In collaboration with the South Florida Water Management District and in consultation with our regional headquarters and federal resource agencies, we constantly seek to identify and implement the optimal solutions in a system with limited options," said Kirk.

"Our close federal-state partnership serves us well in day-to-day options as it does in our shared pursuit of Everglades Restoration wherein we're working to implement long-term improvements to South Florida's water quantity, quality, timing and distribution."

This story will be updated.