Death of an Estuary

And in the crass world of money, they are worth a great deal of it.

Man, in the form of government, is systematically killing them, but not, as you may well suspect, by simply allowing too much development, concrete or growth.

Death comes by discharges.

Both estuaries are turned into non-estuaries by intentional floods of dirty fresh water shot into the east and west estuaries in staggering quantities that water managers prefer not to discuss in terms that ordinary folks understand. Instead, they talk in “acre feet” and “cfs.”

Translated, those cubic feet per second totaled 855 billion gallons of water discharged last year from Lake Okeechobee into the Caloosahatchee and the St. Lucie rivers.

The sheer volume of fresh water, never mind for the moment that it is heavily polluted, eliminates the very factor that makes an estuary an estuary, which is the presence of small percentages of salt water.

Normally, the salinity served by the tides makes the estuary a very special place. It takes unfathomable amounts of discharges to overwhelm and ruin Mother Nature's seasoning. But water managers are up to the dark task.

True estuary life is much different from inland river life. In these fragile bodies of mixed water, fish such as the popular spotted seatrout swim and spawn, oysters flourish and lush turtlegrass beds grow. Without the minimum salinity, they can't make it. The very nature of the place is changed.

That's why folks in places like Fort Myers and Stuart are so outraged that they're gathering funds to sue the Water Management District and Corps of Engineers. People are losing a way of life, not to mention a percentage of their property values.

“Enough is Enough!” exclaims a brochure circulated in Stuart (see Riverscoalition.org) where the problem of blue-green algae and dark water was rated the most important regional story of the year.

The officials operating Florida's disastrous Drainage Machine want us to believe our troubles are caused by hurricanes and record rainfall. They are expending millions (with our money) to perpetuate this claim.

The truth is that storms merely worsened an already scandalous situation that goes back to the fundamental error of shunting water aside to drain and protect the Everglades Agricultural Area, mainly Big Sugar.

Big Ag's political influence shows at every juncture in an official determination to protect the sugar fields at any cost, even thwarting the idea of giving a fifth or so of the drained area back to nature.

And the latest stone-wall stall calls for creation of a new council to conduct hearings for another year, as if we're not already filled to the gills with volumes of data and findings, much of it excellent but ignored.

Meanwhile, the dirty and mostly lifeless estuaries suffer silently, hoping perhaps that concerned citizens will speak up for them.

The special places need us.

FS