LOSOM Plan CC Position
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has chosen "Plan CC" as the preferred plan to manage the discharges from Lake Okeechobee. Now they will deliberate on how best to modify this plan to move forward. Florida Oceanographic, as a member of the Rivers Coalition, is recommending the following modifications to Plan CC that will help keep our estuaries clean and uninfluenced by lake releases that are meant to flow south and rehydrate the Everglades.
Make your voice heard for our waterways before it’s too late! Join us in advocating for these modifications and contact the USACE via email at LakeOComments@usace.army.mil
Position on LOSOM Plan CC:
We request the Army Corps of Engineers optimize Alternative CC by further reducing harm to the St. Lucie estuary. Any Lake Okeechobee regulatory releases to the St. Lucie above 0 cfs represent harm, and for that reason it’s critical to keep S-308 flows to a minimum in the Lake Okeechobee System Operating Manual (LOSOM).
To accomplish this, we request the Army Corps:
- Remove Zone F and lower Zone D down to the water-shortage management line, in order to send more water south during the dry season and send beneficial dry-season flows to the Caloosahatchee. Use this extra capacity to reduce damaging high lake stages and high-volume discharges to both the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee estuaries.
- Maintain 0 discharges to the St. Lucie in Zone D. · Do everything in the Corps’ power to avoid increasing regulatory releases above volumes proposed in Alternative CC as currently drafted.
- Address algal-bloom risk to the estuaries by incorporating operational flexibility that allows the Army Corps not to discharge when doing so would risk transferring algae from Lake Okeechobee to the estuaries.
- Work closely with the South Florida Water Management District to ensure southward flows aren't needlessly constrained by outdated water-supply assumptions.
Share your comments with the USACE via email at LakeOComments@usace.army.mil
