Treasure Coast residents dismayed by incoming discharges from Lake Okeechobee

STUART, Fla. (CBS12) — Lake Okeechobee discharges are coming back.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) wants to lower the lake's water level from 16 feet to 11.5 feet.

They plan to do that by sending water eastbound from the lake beginning on December 7th.

The Army Corps cited a need for what they call 'Lake Recovery Operations' to improve the health of the lake now, before the wet season returns.

“Recovery operations will allow us lower lake levels during the dry season to allow for recovery of lake ecology, specifically submerged aquatic vegetation,” Col. Brandon Bowman explained on a recent press call.

'Friends of the Everglades' is just one of many environmental groups raising concerns about sending discharges into estuaries on the Treasure Coast, fearing it will cause even more water quality issues.

“This is being done in the name of Lake Okeechobee recovery, but there’s no certainty that Lake O will benefit from this move," remarked Eve Samples, the executive director of Friends of the Everglades. "There is certainty that the northern estuaries will be harmed, so we’re not happy about it.”

Residents are also speaking out.

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“I drove over the bridge this morning, the water was nice and green, looking good and I know that within the next ten days to two weeks, it’s going to be black like coffee and it’s just going to be terrifying,” Rufus Wakeman told CBS12 News. “They’re going to kill the estuaries that are now improving and they just never seem to do the right thing at the right time.”

Mark Perry, the Executive Director and CEO of Florida Oceanographic Society, believes the discharges aren't necessary - and believes that the lake will drop enough on its own in the dry season.

“They can be ready to do this, but to just pull the trigger and say ‘we’re going to start’ in December to start doing this, I think it’s premature," Perry shared. "If it starts receding quickly, then there might not be a need to do the recovery operations because the lake will get down to its low point and stay there for a longer duration before the wet season.”

For now, all these coastal stakeholders can do is make as much noise as possible in hopes the Army Corps will change their minds.

“We need to recover the lake, but they need to send that water south and not east and west to the estuaries,” Perry relayed.

The discharges could run until May 1, but the Army Corps could opt to pause the discharges, or even halt them entirely, in the coming months.

"We’re hoping this decision is not set in stone,” Samples shared.

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