So how brown is the beach water down there? (Cape Coral: to live, airport)

[CindyRoos]

Originally Posted by Tman46544

Was there last Friday and didn't see any brown water.

Good to know Headed down in May

[mktobob]

A lot could change by May. Rain will play a major role in the Army Corps of Engineers decision to release water from the Lake O area. Above average rains could cause officials to open the gates and release water that eventually ends up in our Gulf of Mexico.

[CindyRoos]

Originally Posted by mktobob

A lot could change by May. Rain will play a major role in the Army Corps of Engineers decision to release water from the Lake O area. Above average rains could cause officials to open the gates and release water that eventually ends up in our Gulf of Mexico.

[Florida Paradise]

I remember 3 years ago, the Army Corp release an unusually large amount of water and the bay behind Sanibel looks like the orange runoff from a mine. There were protesters lined up the span of the Sanivel Causeway. It was sad. I know this year they also released a lot of water, but am hoping not as recent. Regardless we still swim and have never had any reactions to the browner than usual water. Now Red Tide, on the other hand, is horrible. We were down in December and there was a red tide outbreak that left thousands of dead fish on the Southern end of Sanibel. Fortunately they cleaned them up pretty fast, but it still hurt a bit to take a deep breath. Despite the Lake O, red tide is just a part of the Gulf...

[sunshinewi]

It's brown. I would post pics but I dont know how. Army Corp released a lot of water recently and many articles in the paper about it. People are not happy. It is killing off certain species and driving others away. I don't see dolphins and birds as abundantly as I used to at Bowditch. Its sad. Tourism is down. We went up to Englewood and the water was pretty.
But we don't swim or fish, so it is not having that much of an impact on our vacation. It still sounds the same and I mostly sit and read a book. But sad when I realize that its just not the water color, its what its doing to the ecosystem. Hopefully they will figure it out soon. They say the ecosystem still has not recovered since the big release of water 3 years ago.
From what i have read, January had the highest rain falls since the 1930's, so that is what prompted this latest release of water from Okeechobee.

[CindyRoos]

Originally Posted by sunshinewi

It's brown. I would post pics but I dont know how. Army Corp released a lot of water recently and many articles in the paper about it. People are not happy. It is killing off certain species and driving others away. I don't see dolphins and birds as abundantly as I used to at Bowditch. Its sad. Tourism is down. We went up to Englewood and the water was pretty.
But we don't swim or fish, so it is not having that much of an impact on our vacation. It still sounds the same and I mostly sit and read a book. But sad when I realize that its just not the water color, its what its doing to the ecosystem. Hopefully they will figure it out soon. They say the ecosystem still has not recovered since the big release of water 3 years ago.
From what i have read, January had the highest rain falls since the 1930's, so that is what prompted this latest release of water from Okeechobee.

Bummer! I don't know why they can't figure something out! Instead they keep doing what they do and end up making more of a problem.

[NoSnow4me]

The only way that it's going to stop being a problem is if the corporate farms stop polluting Lake Okeechobee with agricultural chemicals. Any other solution is just a bandaid, delaying the inevitable. The water has to go somewhere.

Many believe that the farming corporations are paying off high ranking government officials, eliminating their motivation to address the root of the problem. If that's true, it's a condition that isn't going to change any time soon unless laws are being broken and the entire ring gets caught and prosecuted.

In the meantime, we'll get plenty of lip service until the water levels get low enough to where they don't have to release it into the river anymore. At that time, they'll say "See, we told you we'd fix it and we did." Then the cycle will start all over again next time we get enough rain to have to release water from the lake.

[Florida Paradise]

[IMG][/IMG]

[Florida Paradise]

This was a pic of the damage from 3 years ago.

[Tman46544]

Originally Posted by CindyRoos

Good to know Headed down in May

Hard to say what it will be like in May but hope it's all good, probably heading down there again soon.