He says the nutrient levels in Lake O are lower now than back then, which is a good thing. So we’re half of the water flow now versus 2018,” said Parsons. “And there was about twice as much water coming through S79 in 2018 versus now. But with all of the other potential nutrient sources around, it’s not the only part of the equation.”Īfter both Irma and Ian, we received water from Lake O through the Caloosahatchee, but the Army Corps of Engineers released it differently. “The discharges the inputs from Lake O definitely can feed red tide, and so they could make it worse. A long debated piece of the red tide puzzle The next thing Parsons looked at was Lake Okeechobee. And the thought at the time, or subsequently, was that a second red tide moved in,” Parsons said.Ī second red tide, comething we can’t predict and hope we don’t see. “It started to decrease a bit in April and May, and then it really came back with a vengeance in June and July. This red tide is more intense now than this time in the past, but 2018’s red tide had a twist. And we’re tracking more red tide now versus February of 2018,” said Parsons. “So when you first asked me that question, I went back, and I looked at the red tide maps that FWC produces. Over the last five months, we’ve seen the red tide map light up, dead fish washing on shore, and ed tide health advisories unmoved, but are these signs we’re going to see another 2018? They came from the water runoff into the rivers, ponds, and the Gulf. Those nutrients didn’t just come from the lake. And the red tide is a little worse right now, not a lot worse, but just a little worse.” But we know, and really had some huge impacts with the storm surge. So it’s not as bad in terms of flow and nutrients as it was in 2018. “I also looked at nutrient levels in Lake Okeechobee, and the nutrient levels are not as high right now as they were in 2018. “And the total volume of water that’s been released from the lake this year is 2.75 times less than it was after Irma,” said Reidenbach.įGCU Professor Mike Parsons says Lake O is just one piece of the red tide puzzle. And that’s what was thought to contribute to the red tide blooms of 2018 that made them so intense and so long,” Reidenbach said.Īfter Ian, there was a different strategy: release for only six weeks compared to those four long months after Irma. So we were completely inundated with flows after Hurricane Irma. “And the strategy after Irma was to release the water from the lake as soon as possible, as much as they could. Reidenbach points out that what we are experiencing now, five months after Ian, is similar to what happened after Irma in 2018.īefore Irma and Ian, Lake Okeechobee levels were low, then rose quickly after the storms. “The research that our lab has done in collaboration with UF has shown that the nitrogen from Lake Okeechobee is combining with other natural factors that cause red tide bloom to increase the initiation and intensity of the red tide blooms,” said Leah Reidenbach, an Sanibel Captiva Conservation Foundation research and policy associate. Researchers are evaluating whether we are headed for an environmental storm. It began in the month after Hurricane Ian. While red tide invades our shoreline, there’s a lot of debate over how Lake Okeechobee contributes to the outbreak.Ī lot of fingers are pointing to Lake Okeechobee for the most recent outbreak.
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