U.S. Army Corps of Engineers® — Jacksonville District

Everglades Division :: Upper East Coast and Kissimmee / Lake Okeechobee Section

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Everglades Division

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Upper East Coast and Kissimmee / Lake Okeechobee Section

Lake Okeechobee Watch — Current Lake Level: 13.62

Feature Story [ Archive ]

Corps suspends releases from Lake Okeechobee as estuaries receive fresh water from local rainfall

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers ended pulse releases from Lake Okeechobee Aug. 3. At this time the Corps is not making releases from Lake Okeechobee because the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie estuaries continue to receive fresh water from local rainfall and runoff. Today’s lake level is at 13.62 feet (NGVD).

Last week the Corps reassessed conditions and suspended future releases until further notice. The Corps based its decision on a number of factors including low (poor) salinity levels in the lower Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie estuaries, a slowing in the rise of Lake Okeechobee, and continued good conditions within the lake.

“We asked for input from the South Florida Water Management District, coastal counties and other experts around the region. The estuaries and other areas of south Florida were already receiving so much fresh water from rainfall in their basins that conditions were poor for more releases. We don’t want to add to the challenge,” said Col. Al Pantano, the Corps’ Jacksonville District commander. “Because the lake’s rate of rise had slowed, the Corps decided to suspend releases. It’s unlikely, however, that we’ll be able to make it all the way through the rainy season without reinitiating releases.”

The Corps strives to maintain a balance within the regional water management system. The functions of the system are numerous and often at odds. Providing both flood damage reduction and water supply entails relying on Lake Okeechobee for storage, but doing so can harm the lake’s ecology, and high water levels increase concerns over Herbert Hoover Dike stability. Protecting the dike and the lake’s plants and wildlife may mean releasing water through the dike’s major outlets – the St. Lucie Canal and Caloosahatchee River. However, the Corps recognizes too much fresh water can damage estuarine organisms such as oysters and sea grasses.

“We are still at the point in the hurricane season where we have a great deal of concern about rainfall yet to come. We want to ensure we have capacity in the lake should a high rainfall event occur. Because water can flow into the lake much faster than we can release it, we need to watch changing conditions closely. We don’t want to have a situation where water levels get too high. That’s riskier for the dike – and therefore public safety – and can also lead to the kinds of releases that do the most harm to the estuaries and the lake ecology.”

Should conditions change in upcoming days, the Corps could initiate releases to allow up to 3,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) to the west and up to 1,170 cfs to the east. If the Corps makes releases, they will take into account the water that is flowing from the basins along the Caloosahatchee and the St. Lucie. This is why the Corps takes measurements of flow to the estuaries at the S-79 on the west and the S-80 on the east, well downstream from the lake. If the lake level continues to increase, however, the Corps may begin taking release measurements on the Caloosahatchee at S-77, which is closer to the lake and may allow releases up to 4,000 cfs to the west.

For more information, please call Nanciann Regalado at 904-232-3904 or (cell) 904-334-8954.

Water level data and flows for Lake Okeechobee and the Central and Southern Florida Project are located on the Jacksonville District water management web page.

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