Environmental Scientists Finally Agree: Lake Okeechobee Discharges, Not Septic Systems are Causing Large Algae Blooms

I came across this article written by Tyler Treadway and apparently after years of research, and ongoing studies environmental experts have finally concluded that the algae formations in Lake Okeechobee are being caused by natural discharges within the lake and not from septic system sewage from surrounding homes and businesses.

After reading the entire post, I tend to agree with the scientists, you can come up with your own opinions.

It's the lake, stupid.

They say pictures don't lie, and that's never been more true in settling the argument over what caused the St. Lucie River algae crisis: Lake Okeechobee discharges or septic systems.

NASA satellite photography has tracked a massive algae bloom in the lake since early May. Videos and photographs by news organizations, including Treasure Coast Newspapers/TCPalm.com, also clearly show bright green algae flowing out of the lake, along the C-44 (St. Lucie) Canal and into the river.

It was obvious on a July 1 airplane tour: Algae bunched up on the west side of the St. Lucie Lock and Dam before pouring through the gates and into the canal, like Black Friday shoppers jostling to squeeze through the just-opened doors of a big-box store.

Even a pre-eminent researcher who calls septic systems "one of the primary sources" of pollution in the St. Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon agrees.

"There's no challenging the fact that the algae is coming from Lake Okeechobee," said Brian Lapointe, a research professor at Florida Atlantic University's Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute in Fort Pierce. "The lake is the biggest single source of the blue-green algae bloom in the St. Lucie River estuary."

He said there would be no algae bloom in the river without the discharges, which have poured more than 150 billion gallons of polluted lake water into the river since Jan. 30.

"I don't know of any time we've had blooms without discharges," he said.

Yes, septic systems pollute the river, but not nearly as much as lake discharges; and it's the combination of the two, plus other water entering the estuary from canals and creeks, that makes algae bloom.

Lapointe puts it this way: Lake discharges caused the river algae bloom, but septic system runoff "greatly exacerbated it."

"When the algae from the lake enters the estuary, it encounters high concentrations of what we call 'active' nutrients; and that makes the blooms explode," Lapointe said.

Ed Phlips, an algae expert at the University of Florida, agreed lake discharges caused the algae bloom; but he said septic systems may have contributed "a little."

"It's a very good thing to shift from septic systems to sewer systems," Phlips said, "but you'd be fixing only a small part of this particular problem."

BLOOM OR NO BLOOM?

The South Florida Water Management District disagrees, claiming there have been algae blooms without discharges.

"Algae blooms have occurred in past years such as 2014 when there were no lake releases," states a news release titled "Myth versus Fact." Spokesman Randy Smith also said there was an algae bloom "during a no lake release period in April of 2014 in the St. Lucie but the documentation does not list an exact location."

Treasure Coast Newspapers made multiple requests for that documentation; but Smith never provided it, saying only that district scientists remember it.

"At the time, detailed notes about blooms (were) not something the agency kept," he said.

The St. Lucie River had only two toxic algae blooms in the past 10 years: in 2005 and 2013, according to a study Lapointe prepared for the Martin County Commission, dated March 4, 2015.

"That's right," Lapointe said Friday. "There weren't any blooms in 2014."

An algae bloom in April 2014 seems highly unlikely, based on the district's own data. Blue-green algae, aka cyanobacteria, can't survive in water with a salinity above 10 parts per thousand. Salinity in the St. Lucie River estuary ranged from 18 to 30 parts per thousand, according to a presentation Terri Bates, director of water resources, gave to the district board April 7 and May 15 that year.

It's a "myth," the district states, that "Lake Okeechobee is the sole contributor to blue-green algae blooms."

The key word here is "sole."

IT'S NOT ENOUGH

Sure, the lake isn't the "sole" contributor to the bloom; no argument. But no one can deny it's the "primary" contributor.

From Jan. 1 to July 1, the lake "contributed" 150 billion gallons of water to the river while storm-water runoff from the C-23, C-24 and C-44 canals plus Ten Mile Creek plus the river's tidal basin — combined — contributed 172 billion gallons. All that water, 322 billion gallons, has lowered the salinity in the normally brackish estuary enough to allow freshwater species of algae like the blue-green algae we're seeing now.

"Any major bloom is consistently associated with huge discharges from Lake Okeechobee," Phlips said. "It just makes sense: These are freshwater species of algae, and the discharges of freshwater from the lake is the main cause of low salinity in the St. Lucie estuary."

Lake discharges also are the primary source of nutrients in the river, mostly nitrogen and phosphorus in fertilizer runoff from agricultural lands north of the lake. The nutrients also fertilize the algae.

Well there you have it. I have been installing septic systems,performing septic tank pumping services and grease trap cleaning for well over 19 years now. Most often septic leach fields get a bad name for seeping effluent into lakes and streams once they begin to fail, either from years of use, or from improper system design at the onset. Septic system failure and clogged drain or leach fields can be corrected by natural means. In this case "Mother Nature" seems to be responsible for the mess this time so it will be interesting to see how "she" handles the problem on her own. 

Read entire article here.

Related information from The Natural Home.com on proper septic system design.

https://www.thenaturalhome.com/septic.php

Please see related YouTube video below on septic system revival and unclogging procedures.