Caloosahatchee River

Tens of thousands of leaking septic systems are contributing to Southwest Florida’s water-quality woes, sending nutrient-rich fecal matter throughout the region’s shallow water table and porous soils to pollute groundwater, feed outbreaks of blue-green algae, and fuel more intense fish-killing red tides.

The Florida Department of Health in Lee County issued a health advisory Friday warning people and their pets to stay away from the area due to “the presence of harmful blue-green algal toxins,” the agency wrote. “The public should exercise caution in and around Franklin Lock.”The tropical system was taking aim at Fort Myers on Friday evening, gaining strength, and was expected to become the first named tropical storm of the Atlantic hurricane season.The Army Corps was closing all its locks and dams on Lake Okeechobee to secure the 142-mile-long dike ringing the lake. The South Florida Water Management District was doing the same with the locks and dams it controls.

That humans contribute to making red tides stronger and last longer has been anecdotal. Now, researchers in Southwest Florida have explained that it's really true. Environmental researchers led by the University of Florida’s Center for Coastal Solutions documented the link after studying a decade of red tide data from the Caloosahatchee River, Charlotte Harbor, and the surrounding watersheds including the coasts of Charlotte and Lee counties. The findings are published in the June issue of Science of the Total Environment.

The Chairman of the Lee County Board of Commissioners Kevin Ruane is sounding the alarm about the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers new plan for Lake Okeechobee.

The Army Corps of Engineers has been releasing water from Lake Okeechobee as Tropical Storm Eta bears down on South Florida. This can be problematic in more ways than one.

Once it’s completed, the massive Caloosahatchee River West Basin Storage, or C-43 reservoir, near Alva will hold about 55 billion gallons of water…

The Charlotte Harbor National Estuary Program partnered with local non-profit organizations as well as private citizens and companies to try to restore…

Southwest Florida has been feeling the effects of water releases from Lake Okeechobee for weeks now – most obviously in Cape Coral where the canal-based…

As of Monday morning, the Army Corps of Engineers had halted releases of water from Lake Okeechobee to the west coast. This came after the decision to…

Members of Southwest Florida’s state legislative delegation sent a joint letter to Governor Rick Scott, Thursday, requesting an emergency declaration for…