CAPE CORAL, Fla. — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers updated the conditions of Lake Okeechobee on Friday morning.
While there was good news on the algae issues, the Army Corps is now closely monitoring water levels on the lake.
The blue green algae blooms are decreasing. Per the latest NOAA satellite images, (taken August 15), blooms covered about 200 sq. miles, or 27% of the Lake. That's down from earlier this summer when 95% of the Lake was covered.
Despite the decreasing blooms, the Lake has risen about five inches over the last 30 days to 15.32 feet. That is about 2.3 feet above normal.
Maj. Cory Bell, Deputy District Commander with Jacksonville District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, noted the lake is running on the high end. They prefer to keep Lake O under 16.5 feet. Any levels higher than that could damage the dams and the dikes on the Lake.
"Our current dam inspections, we do weekly, monthly and bi-weekly inspections across the Hoover Dike Dam and we will increase those inspections as we come to 16.5 feet or so,” said Maj. Bell. “Based on the conditions and environment that's what we will do, but we continue to look at the lake levels daily."
As the Lake gets higher and with the peak of hurricane season coming, Maj. Bell said there may come a time for large lake releases later this wet season.
“We are going to do our best to avoid them at all possible,” said Maj. Bell. “Using the flexibility afforded to us under LORS2008, we have avoided large releases during the early summer when the algae blooms are at a higher risk. Rather than taking action on a possible situation that may or may not happen in the future, we will continue to be transparent and maintain open communications with our stakeholders.”
The Corps said it is maintaining beneficial releases in the Caloosahatchee as needed, but lately local runoff has exceeded allowed levels. That means the Corps has not been releasing water into the river.
The flows at S-79 Franklin Lock had a 14 day average of 2,792 cfs and has been in the damaging flow envelope for the Caloosahatchee for 49 days.
“We are maintaining our wet season strategy,” said Maj. Bell. “So, beneficial releases east, west, and south. So that was our plan coming into the wet season. We are continuing with that plan.”
Maj. Bell said the operating guidelines for Lake O, called LOSOM, are on track to come online in late 2023. This comes after it was delayed earlier this year by NOAA to study its impacts on red tide.
