L.OKEE
# LEVL=14.98
23:00EST 10-MAY-2010 Satellite
NOTE: All stages and levels are reported in NGVD29 feet.
Lake Okeechobee: Lake-O is back to normal mode
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StormTracker
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Re: Lake Okeechobee: Water level begins to drop
Data Ending 2400 hours 24 MAY 2010
_____________________________________________________________________________
Okeechobee Lake Regulation Elevation Last Year 2YRS Ago
(ft-NGVD) (ft-NGVD) (ft-NGVD)
*Okeechobee Lake Elevation 14.49 10.77 9.75 (Official Elv)
Well we are still in better shape than we were @ this time last year!
_____________________________________________________________________________
Okeechobee Lake Regulation Elevation Last Year 2YRS Ago
(ft-NGVD) (ft-NGVD) (ft-NGVD)
*Okeechobee Lake Elevation 14.49 10.77 9.75 (Official Elv)
Well we are still in better shape than we were @ this time last year!
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StormTracker
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Re: Lake Okeechobee: Water level begins to drop
L.OKEE
# LEVL=14.41
23:00EST 31-MAY-2010 Satellite
NOTE: All stages and levels are reported in NGVD29 feet.
# LEVL=14.41
23:00EST 31-MAY-2010 Satellite
NOTE: All stages and levels are reported in NGVD29 feet.
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Aquawind
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Re: Lake Okeechobee: Water level begins to drop
Lake Okeechobee releases begin
Release necessary to get ready for summer rains
by Kevin Lollar • klollar@news-press.com • June 1, 2010
The Caloosahatchee River is running dark. High water levels in Lake Okeechobee have forced the Army Corps of Engineers to release almost 2 billion gallons of turbid, nutrient-rich water daily down the river. “Yeah, it’s ugly,” Sanibel native Ralph Woodring said. “It’s real dark. It looks unhealthy. When you go out into the Gulf, you can see a line where it’s clean water on one side and dirty on the other.” To protect the Herbert Hoover Dike, which surrounds Lake Okeechobee, the corps wants lake levels between 12.5 and 15.5 feet. At the beginning of the wet season, the lake should be at the lower end of the range to allow room for summer rains. On Monday, water levels at the the lake were 14.42 feet, so the corps is releasing water at a rate of 3,000 cubic feet per second — 1 cubic foot equals 7.48 gallons.
“The fact is that we’re at the beginning of the rainy season, and the lake is high compared to where it should be,” corps spokeswoman Nanciann Regalado said. “So we’re trying to lower lake levels to give us capacity to hold precipitation that could be right around the corner.”
Releases will continue until water levels in the lake get closer to 12.5 feet, Regalado said.
Large amounts of water flowing down the Caloosahatchee can produce a number of negative environmental effects.
After the extremely wet rainy seasons of 2004 and 2005, excess nutrients in water released from the lake caused massive algal blooms in the river, estuary and Gulf of Mexico. Algae blooms can smother seagrasses and cause fish kills.
When algae die, the decomposition process sucks oxygen from the water, and the rotting algae put more nutrients into the system, causing more algal blooms.
According to the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation Marine Laboratory’s River, Estuary and Coastal Observing Network, nutrient levels are high in the river and estuary.
But so far, massive algal blooms haven’t formed because algae need light, and the dark water is keeping them from getting it, said Rick Bartleson, a research scientist at the SCCF marine lab.
That doesn’t mean algal blooms are not in the river’s future.
“They’re pumping a lot of nutrients out,” Bartleson said. “That’s going to get something growing as soon as we get some light.”
While lack of light inhibits algal growth, it also keeps seagrass from growing, Bartleson said. Seagrasses are a vital part of the estuary because they provide food and habitat for a large number of vertebrate and invertebrate species.
From the Gulf east to the W.P. Franklin Lock and Dam, the Caloosahatchee is a tidal river, which means salt water moves upstream with the rising tide to mix with fresh water flowing downstream.
Under natural conditions, the freshwater-saltwater mix remains in balance, but large lake releases drastically reduce salinity all the way to the Gulf, further damaging the ecosystem.
Turtle grass, an important seagrass species in the estuary, for example, needs salinities of 25 to 35 parts per thousand.
During the past two weeks, salinities at Shell Point in south Fort Myers have been as low as 5 parts per thousand.
“Anything below 20 ppt at Shell Point will have impacts on turtle grass,” Bartleson said. “You start getting mortality below 20 parts per thousand.”
Low salinity can hurt oysters, too.
Oysters filter large amounts of water, and the reefs are home to many fish and invertebrate species, which are food for such important fish species as snook, redfish and mangrove snapper.
Oysters prefer salinities of 14 to 28 ppt; salinities below 5 ppt can be fatal.
“Right now, the salinity is pretty good,” said Aswani Volety, chairman of FGCU’s Department of Marine and Ecological Sciences. “If it drops dramatically, it wouldn’t be good.
“We’re getting into spawning season, and if flows remain high or increase, it can flush all the larvae downstream, and low salinities can kill them.”
One indication of water quality is fishing success, and Dave Westra, owner of Lehr’s Economy Tackle in North Fort Myers, said fishing has not been good in the upper part of the river.
“I’m going to say it’s practically nonexistent,” he said. “It’s way down from what it should be. Normally at this time of year, we hear about folks catching black drum around the bridges. Nobody’s doing it.
“This is a tidal river, but with the amount of fresh water coming down, it’s ceased to be tidal. It’s lost its natural ability to keep up with what’s going on.”
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