Pressure Mounts to Protect Florida's Caloosahatchee River: Now up to courts
Posted July 24, 2012 08:15 am
The Caloosahatchee River, also known as the C-43 Canal,
connects Lake Okeechobee with the Gulf of Mexico.
By
Stephanie Carroll Carson
TALLAHASSEE, FL - The future of a southwest Florida river is now in the hands of the federal court system. On Monday, environmental groups sued the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for what they say are repeated violations of water protection laws on the Caloosahatchee River.
Links of interest:
•
Sierra Club Florida
•
Protecting Our Water
The groups want the Corps to release water from Lake
Okeechobee into the Caloosahatchee to maintain the
health of the waterway. Manley Fuller is president of
the Florida Wildlife Federation, one of the groups
filing the lawsuit.
"We're not talking about massive amounts of water here.
We're talking about something that would just have a
minute effect on any other user. We don't think that
this will hurt anybody."
Caloosahatchee River with green slime.
The water from Lake Okeechobee is used to irrigate
500,000 acres of sugarcane fields. Fuller says there is
plenty of water, both for the river and agriculture.
The Caloosahatchee has multiple environmental problems,
including a slimy green algae that is reportedly causing
health problems for the people living on the river and
the wildlife that inhabits the waters.
There have been multiple unsuccessful requests to the
Corps to release water into the Caloosahatchee. At the
Conservancy of Southwest Florida, a second plaintiff
group, President Andrew McElwaine says neglecting the
river affects more than just wildlife.
"There has been a tendency to neglect the water needs of
nature to the preferment of human needs, but that
ignores the fact that nature is what really is so
important to the economy of the region."
The Caloosahatchee is officially designated as a public
drinking-water source, although a drinking water plant
in Lee County has repeatedly had to shut down because
the water is unfit to drink. Glades, Hendry and Lee
County public health departments have issued multiple
warnings asking people not to come in contact with the
river.
Link box and photos added by the Observer
Photo credits: Sources unknown