Lake Okeechobee

Army Corps to stop sending polluted Lake Okeechobee water down Caloosahatchee River

Tom Bayles

The Army Corps has been sending Lake O water down the Caloosahatchee River for months to lower the depth in the lake, which harms the estuary.

Police face off with demonstrators during an immigrant rights protest Monday, Feb. 3, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Immigration

'A Day Without Immigrants' movement is meant to show how crucial immigrants are to the U.S.

Eileen Kelley

From LA to New York, to the belly of Florida, immigrants and supporters didn't go to work and school in protest of Donald Trump's immigration policies

Environment

Billions of gallons of water being released from Lake Okeechobee to lower depth 4 feet

Tom Bayles

LOSOM was a hard-fought win for environmentalists was those key components the nonprofits believed would reduce the need for emergency discharges that have previously caused ecological damage

This is what is what looks like when billions of gallons of water are being released daily from Lake Okeechobee, as it was earlier this year from the spillway into the St. Lucie River on the east side of the lake. Similar amounts of water will be released down the Caloosahatchee River during the three next three months since the Army Corps of Engineers has decided to drain four feet from the lake to minimize harm being done to plants that help keep the lake cleaner than it otherwise would be and continue to provide world-class fishing

Environment

Water Quality Report: Army Corps to lower Lake Okeechobee by 4 feet; toxic algae threat

Tom Bayles

Despite strong indications that billions of gallons of water would not gush down the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie rivers from months on end when the new management plan for the big lake was finalized earlier this year that's exactly what is poised to occur

From space, it doesn't look like Lake Okeechobee causes any problems at all. If only.

Environment

A hydrological paradox: Lake O's new plan reins in the water going out, yet empties the lake the same?

Tom Bayles

The new LOSOM touts improvements in water quality, protection of ecosystems in the Everglades, and better management of water resources.to prevent harmful algal blooms in the Caloosahatchee River. Is all that possible at the same time?

New guidelines regulating when polluted water can flow from Lake Okeechobee through this spillway in Moore Haven and into the Caloosahatchee River, and other waterways leading from the lake to the Atlantic Ocean, are now official after years in the Army Corps of Engineers pipeline

Environment

The when, where, and how of water releases from Lake Okeechobee now official

Tom Bayles

The Lake Okeechobee System Operating Manual — LOSOM , a set of guidelines on how, when, and where water will be released from Lake Okeechobee — was made official this week

Soon, the only thing traveling through the Port Mayaca Lock and Dam will be boats, as releases of water from Lake Okeechobee through Port Mayaca into the St. Lucie Canal will all but cease under the new management plan for distributing excess water from the lake

Environment

Moving how much water, where, when: A new guide for Lake O

Tom Bayles

The new plan to manage the water flow from Lake Okeechobee throughout the Everglades is making its final rounds among various higher-ups before expected approval in the fall.

Environment

Water Quality Report: Blue-green algae -- learn it, live it, but you don't have to love it

Tom Bayles

It’s the time of year when warnings about blue-green algae outbreaks will be a regular part of life and this space and the department of Health in Lee County issued its sixth health advisory this year due to blue-green algae in the Caloosahatchee River.

A postcard from 1910, picturing the dredge named the Everglade working to drain the Everglades, shows the activity that was the catalyst for many of today's problems involving the environmental health of the Caloosahtachee River

Environment

Water Quality Report: Concerns for the Caloosahatchee River created a century ago

Tom Bayles

Controversy surrounds the Army Corps’ decisions when to release how much water from Lake Okeechobee, slowly, quickly, during the wet season or dry

The releases of polluted water from Lake Okeechobee into the Caloosahatchee River empty very visibly into the Gulf of Mexico off Southwest Florida

Environment

Water Quality Report: Spillways spouting water pollution closed; mouths hurling criticism remain open

Tom Bayles

There is no better word than “blistering” to describe the reaction of local water-quality nonprofits to how the Army Corps has managed the level in Lake Okeechobee. But Col. James Booth has a tough job.