Army Corps is releasing water from the C-44 Reservoir, not Lake Okeechobee
On Wednesday, August 28, the Army Corps of Engineers began discharging water into the St. Lucie River in an attempt to reduce water levels in the newly constructed C-44 Reservoir. This water is NOT coming from Lake Okeechobee — rather, it’s from the mostly agricultural watershed between Lake O and Stuart — but it is nonetheless harmful to the St. Lucie River.
These discharges, at a rate of about 300 cubic feet per second at the St. Lucie Lock & Dam (aka S-80), are expected to continue for a couple of weeks, depending on weather. The unnatural flows will lower delicate salinity levels in the St. Lucie River estuary while delivering sediment and pollutants. Though the water will be cleaned by the C-44 Stormwater Treatment Area, it will then travel through 10 miles of the St. Lucie Canal, where legacy pollutants line the waterway, before being released in the St. Lucie River.
The releases are particularly frustrating because the C-44 Reservoir is not holding as much water as it was designed to, due to “seepage.” The reservoir’s current capacity is about 10 feet, but it was intended to hold up to 15 feet. Current water levels in the C-44 Reservoir are just under 9 feet, and the Army Corps is aiming to lower it to 7 feet in preparation for tropical activity before the end of hurricane season.
Brace for water quality impacts in the St. Lucie River this Labor Day weekend and beyond. We’ll keep you posted.
