From a fisherman’s point of view, things get worse. Seatrout and snook, two of our best gamefish that spawn in these coastal estuaries, are badly hurt. When the estuaries fill with the polluted water coming out of Lake O, the eggs of these fish, which normally float in brackish estuarine water, sink in the fresh water and die on the bottom. That would explain why we’re seeing far fewer seatrout around these areas recently. In addition, the fertilized, polluted waters eventually end up mixing with coastal waters where it’s believed they fertilize red tide blooms, which have been known to kill all manner of sea life.

Word has gotten out and fewer visitors want to come sample what had been world-class fishing and world-class beaches. In some places dead sealife washes up on the beaches. In other places veterans notice the loss of dolphins, turtles and sea birds that once filled the estuaries. Newcomers may see what they think is still a healthy natural area, unaware of the missing birds, marine mammals and fish. Back at Lake O, tackle shops have closed, many fishing guides have thrown in the towel, and it’s looking like the bass fishing tournaments may pull up stakes and move elsewhere.

Lee County Commissioner Bob Janes was quoted in a recent news report saying the area’s tourism industry “will never recover if we continue on” without addressing the water pollution being dumped on Lee County from Lake O. Lee County Commissioner Ray Judah says local marine scientists are of the opinion that the destruction of marine habitat and fisheries will take a minimum of ten years to recover in the Fort Myers area.

Considering the huge number of people who are adversely affected by the way Lake O is currently being managed, you could safely say a gross injustice is being thrust upon the people of South Florida, especially those who live and fish on both coasts where the polluted water reaches the sea, as well as those around the lake itself.

Although sugar farmers take irrigation water out of Lake O, the minute it rains and water pools in their sugarcane fields, they drain it off and pump it back uphill into the lake, adding to the lake’s pollution and bulging waters.

A small number of people are creating a huge problem for a large number of people. Money talks and the small number of people responsible for all the pollution tend to be quite generous to politicians. The sugar industry has 40 lobbyists working for them in Washington DC, for starters, to make sure South Florida is configured exclusively for sugar farmers. They had 75 lobbyists working the state capitol when the state last wrestled with their wastewater problem. In addition, Governor Bush appointed a sugar industry official to a Water Management District position, the agency that controls Lake O’s water levels and decides when and how much polluted water to dump.

This disastrous situation doesn’t have to continue. There are laws on the books that prohibit the cattle ranchers and sugar farmers from polluting rivers and streams, but currently there has been no political will to enforce them.

In the case of cattle ranchers, if they reduced the tons of fertilizer dumped on their fields to only what the plants can absorb, we’d be half way home. Fencing off the streams and rivers to create a buffer zone between cow droppings and the state’s waters would be the next helpful thing they could do. All they would need is a nudge from the state and it would be done.

Recently folks on both coasts who have suffered from the discharges are getting mad as never before. This is a sign politicians would be foolish to ignore. You’ll hear water officials talk about their 10-year, $10 billion construction plan to solve all the problems they’ve created. They’ve been talking this talk for years and the only thing that changes is the price tag gets bigger and the implementation timeline gets further off as the years go by. Even if they executed their plan, it won’t help in the short term nor will it prevent large pollution releases into the river during wet years. Water officials say the best thing fishermen can do is to keep their mouths shut and stay out of the way and let their excellent plan take effect. We’ve heard all that before.

The reason nothing changes is clear: There are wealthy, powerful interests who believe they stand to lose if they are forced to do the right thing and so far, they’ve successfully resisted correcting their mistakes. Unfortunately it appears that they’ll only respond if forced by a court order telling them to obey the law.

Coastal folks and fishermen are now moving to pursue such a court order. There is already a lawsuit against the sugar growers for pumping their polluted water back into Lake O after it rains. Another lawsuit aimed at getting the lethal pollution discharges down the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers stopped is in the works. The people responsible for building the current dysfunctional system should take heed. There are a lot of folks unhappy with the environmental damage being done to South Florida and many are ready to stand up to protect the places we grew up in and love deeply.

FS

David Guest is an attorney for the environmental law firm Earthjustice, which has been involved in a number of actions seeking Everglades reforms.