Water from Lake Okeechobee entered the St. Lucie River for the first time in almost 2 years.

ST. LUCY COUNTY, Florida. For the first time in almost two years, the Army Corps of Engineers began dumping water from Lake Okeechobee into the mouth of the St. Lucie River.

From a vantage point that not everyone can see, Jacqui Thurlow-Lippish keeps a close eye on all visible changes in the St. Lucie River.

“It’s 180 degrees from where it was,” she said.

Photos taken this weekend over St. Lucie Bay show blue, clear conditions and some algae still trying to make a comeback.

A stark contrast to previous years, when, she says, strong emissions from Lake Okeechobee partially damaged the ecosystem.

Jackie Thurlow Lippisch

Megan McRoberts/WPTV

Jacqui Thurlow Lippisch explains how the St. Lucie Estuary flourished when there was no release from Lake Okeechobee.

“The water was so disgusting and disgusting,” she said. “Black, brown, full of sediment, green algae, dead fish.”

Thurlow-Lippish attributes this rebound to the fact that there has been no input from Lake Okeechobee since April 2021.

“A major, significant positive impact. There is no better impact on our St. Lucie River if it does not have water from Lake Okeechobee,” she said. “It took some time, but our algae bounced off the sailboat’s shallows. You can see shadows, water and color in this area.”

However, this weekend, the releases resumed for the first time in almost two years.

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@JaxStrong/Twitter

“I wasn’t surprised,” Thurlow-Lippish said.

Thurlow-Lippish, who also sits on the South Florida Water Management Board, echoed what the Army Corps of Engineers said in justifying the emissions.

The water simply didn’t recede from the lake fast enough after Hurricane Yang, the lake level was still about 16 feet higher than the Corps would have liked before the start of the rainy season.

“I can’t take it. I wish it didn’t happen, but it’s high,” she said.

Thurlow-Lippish said releasing the water now is better at reducing the risk of algal blooms.

“And you don’t want this water coming in with toxic algae blooms in the summer, we don’t want that,” she said. So it’s better to take it now.

Brian Mast

Megan McRoberts/WPTV

Congressman Brian Mast explains why he doesn’t support releases in Lake Okeechobee.

It also helps that the estuary had a long break in fresh water inflow.

“She’s stronger and has had time to come back,” Thurlow-Lippish said. “I hate releases.”

Congressman Brian Mast, at the St. Lucie lock on Monday, said he would not accept any discharge at the mouth of the river because, he said, every drop was harmful.

“They create a situation where this summer, if the estuary is freshwater and not salty, we get toxic freshwater algae blooms,” he said.

In a letter to the Army Corps, Mast gave “a lukewarm appraisal of the core sinking the lake before the monsoon season” but wrote that “planned low-level releases have little effect on lake levels, but huge impacts on the east coast ecosystem.” ”

“If you stop abusing the estuary, nature should heal,” Thurlow-Lippish said. “We are called to heal.”

Now the wait begins to see how long the releases last.

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texasstandard.news contributed to this report.

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