Less than two weeks into Lake O discharges and the difference downstream is already heartbreaking.
It’s easy to recognize the immediate impacts of high-volume Lake Okeechobee discharges on water quality—once clear, clean water has been replaced by dark, turbid water—but how else do these discharges affect our coastal waterways and communities?
Some of the impacts aren’t as immediate, but they can be even more destructive.
Read through to learn more about the ecological, economic, lifestyle, and human health impacts of lake discharges—and to understand better why the solution to these issues, Everglades Restoration, needs your support now more than ever.
High volume releases from Lake Okeechobee pour through the St. Lucie Lock and Dam Feb 17th, 2024.
1. Ecological Impacts
These high-volume discharges are death sentences for the ecology of our coastal estuaries.
The nutrient-rich, polluted water from Lake Okeechobee can transport toxic blue-green algae to the coasts and has been found to intensify existing red-tide blooms, supercharging them and leading to massive marine kills like we experienced in 2016 and 2018.
But even if the water wasn’t polluted, the large slug of freshwater alone is extremely disruptive to the delicate balance of the estuarine ecosystem, threatening the health of essential habitats—like seagrasses and oysters—and jeopardizing the biodiversity and resilience of our coastal waterways.
Before and after photos of St. Lucie inlet show the immediate change after only 10 days of discharges.
2. Economic Impacts
In South Florida, our economy depends on clean water and healthy coasts. Without clean water, our communities suffer.
In fact, a recent study found that harmful water-quality events have MULTI-BILLION-DOLLAR impacts.
The study found that in the event of a future major Harmful Algal Bloom event (like the 2018 crisis spurred by Lake O discharges), southwest Florida would lose over $460 million in commercial and recreational fishing, over 43,000 jobs, $5.2 billion in local economic output, $17.8 billion in property values, and $8.1 billion in the value of outdoor recreation.
Another recent study examining that 2018 water crisis came to a similar conclusion, calculating tourism losses alone from that event at $2.7 billion.
3. Impacts to South Florida’s Way of Life
These discharges threaten the cultural and recreational ways of life in South Florida.
Boating, fishing, beach-going, and other outdoor draws lose their luster when the water turns brown. Residents don’t want to spend their days around dirty water, and tourists don’t want to waste their vacation dealing with red tide.
These unnatural events compromise the very lifestyle that defines the region and attracts visitors, jeopardizing quality of life and compounding economic impacts.
4. Threats to Human Health
As mentioned earlier, high-volume coastal discharges can contribute to the proliferation of harmful algal blooms, such as red tide and blue-green algae, releasing toxins into the air and water.
These toxins pose a direct threat to human health, leading to respiratory issues, skin irritations, and a potential host of other long-term health issues.
Consumption of contaminated seafood presents other risks, and pets can be particularly vulnerable, especially when discharges transfer toxic blue-green algae from the lake to the more populated coasts.
Toxic blue-green algae flushed down the Caloosahatchee River during the 2018 discharges.
Mitigating the impacts
The solution to reducing these damaging discharges is called Everglades restoration, a suite of 68 infrastructure projects to store, clean, and flow excess Lake O water south through the Everglades, where it once flowed naturally.
By restoring the historical flow path of Lake Okeechobee water, water managers will have greater flexibility and more tools to lower the lake more naturally, significantly reducing the need to resort to harmful discharges.
Currently, there are barriers to flow (roads and dams), a need for improved infrastructure (reservoirs and water treatment areas), and political challenges that limit the flow.
Everglades Restoration is dismantling those barriers, but it requires completion of decades-long projects, and there are special interests, like Big Sugar, actively fighting to delay progress and maintain the self-benefitting status quo.
Groundbreaking at the critical EAA Reservoir, an Everglades Restoration project that will help store, clean, and send more beneficial water south through the Everglades and into Florida Bay.
How you can help
That’s why this effort needs your support now more than ever. Everglades Restoration is a marathon, not a sprint.
This movement for clean water is stronger than it’s ever been thanks to more people like you getting involved.
But getting critical restoration projects, like the EAA Reservoir, to the finish line is going to require an even bigger army of clean-water advocates willing to go the distance and stand up for the waters we treasure.
Sign up for our action alerts so that you can be notified when we need you to take critical action to advance solutions to these devastating discharges.
Less than two weeks into Lake O discharges and the difference downstream is already heartbreaking.
It’s easy to recognize the immediate impacts of high-volume Lake Okeechobee discharges on water quality—once clear, clean water has been replaced by dark, turbid water—but how else do these discharges affect our coastal waterways and communities?
Some of the impacts aren’t as immediate, but they can be even more destructive.
Read through to learn more about the ecological, economic, lifestyle, and human health impacts of lake discharges—and to understand better why the solution to these issues, Everglades Restoration, needs your support now more than ever.
High volume releases from Lake Okeechobee pour through the St. Lucie Lock and Dam Feb 17th, 2024.
1. Ecological Impacts
These high-volume discharges are death sentences for the ecology of our coastal estuaries.
The nutrient-rich, polluted water from Lake Okeechobee can transport toxic blue-green algae to the coasts and has been found to intensify existing red-tide blooms, supercharging them and leading to massive marine kills like we experienced in 2016 and 2018.
But even if the water wasn’t polluted, the large slug of freshwater alone is extremely disruptive to the delicate balance of the estuarine ecosystem, threatening the health of essential habitats—like seagrasses and oysters—and jeopardizing the biodiversity and resilience of our coastal waterways.
Before and after photos of St. Lucie inlet show the immediate change after only 10 days of discharges.
2. Economic Impacts
In South Florida, our economy depends on clean water and healthy coasts. Without clean water, our communities suffer.
In fact, a recent study found that harmful water-quality events have MULTI-BILLION-DOLLAR impacts.
The study found that in the event of a future major Harmful Algal Bloom event (like the 2018 crisis spurred by Lake O discharges), southwest Florida would lose over $460 million in commercial and recreational fishing, over 43,000 jobs, $5.2 billion in local economic output, $17.8 billion in property values, and $8.1 billion in the value of outdoor recreation.
Another recent study examining that 2018 water crisis came to a similar conclusion, calculating tourism losses alone from that event at $2.7 billion.
3. Impacts to South Florida’s Way of Life
These discharges threaten the cultural and recreational ways of life in South Florida.
Boating, fishing, beach-going, and other outdoor draws lose their luster when the water turns brown. Residents don’t want to spend their days around dirty water, and tourists don’t want to waste their vacation dealing with red tide.
These unnatural events compromise the very lifestyle that defines the region and attracts visitors, jeopardizing quality of life and compounding economic impacts.
4. Threats to Human Health
As mentioned earlier, high-volume coastal discharges can contribute to the proliferation of harmful algal blooms, such as red tide and blue-green algae, releasing toxins into the air and water.
These toxins pose a direct threat to human health, leading to respiratory issues, skin irritations, and a potential host of other long-term health issues.
Consumption of contaminated seafood presents other risks, and pets can be particularly vulnerable, especially when discharges transfer toxic blue-green algae from the lake to the more populated coasts.
Toxic blue-green algae flushed down the Caloosahatchee River during the 2018 discharges.
Mitigating the impacts
The solution to reducing these damaging discharges is called Everglades restoration, a suite of 68 infrastructure projects to store, clean, and flow excess Lake O water south through the Everglades, where it once flowed naturally.
By restoring the historical flow path of Lake Okeechobee water, water managers will have greater flexibility and more tools to lower the lake more naturally, significantly reducing the need to resort to harmful discharges.
Currently, there are barriers to flow (roads and dams), a need for improved infrastructure (reservoirs and water treatment areas), and political challenges that limit the flow.
Everglades Restoration is dismantling those barriers, but it requires completion of decades-long projects, and there are special interests, like Big Sugar, actively fighting to delay progress and maintain the self-benefitting status quo.
Groundbreaking at the critical EAA Reservoir, an Everglades Restoration project that will help store, clean, and send more beneficial water south through the Everglades and into Florida Bay.
How you can help
That’s why this effort needs your support now more than ever. Everglades Restoration is a marathon, not a sprint.
This movement for clean water is stronger than it’s ever been thanks to more people like you getting involved.
But getting critical restoration projects, like the EAA Reservoir, to the finish line is going to require an even bigger army of clean-water advocates willing to go the distance and stand up for the waters we treasure.