Photo – Facebook group “Take Back Our Water”
The mismanagement of Florida’s freshwater has been ongoing for many years. The recipient of the bad side of this mismanagement has long been Florida’s coastal waters. In South Florida, Lake Okeechobee is being emptied into the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie Rivers to the tune of billions of gallons of nutrient-rich water per day. In contrast, the Everglades and Florida Bay are starving for fresh water – water that they received under natural flows. In each of these locations, the impacts on the fish, habitats, and fisheries have been severe.
Now images are coming in from farther north, in the Indian River Lagoon, which has been experiencing its own water mismanagement related issues for many years. Though not directly related to the Everglades and Lake Okeechobee discharge problems, the same poor water management practices have been applied to the Indian River Lagoon with similar consequences. After many weeks of brown tide, the Indian River Lagoon is now starting to see large scale fish kills.
The locations are different, and the pure scale of the water flows are different, but the results are the same – the killing of our coastal fisheries.
Please get involved. Visit www.btt.org/fixourwater and use the form at the bottom of the page to let the elected Florida officials know that this is not acceptable. You can also tag #fixourwater and #fixflwater in any photos you see related to the Florida water mismanagement issues.
Photo – Facebook group “Take Back Our Water”
Read more about the Indian River Lagoon and Banana River fish kills here:
https://www.floridatoday.com/story/news/local/2016/03/18/report-fish-kill-brevard-county/81992006/
https://www.wftv.com/news/local/harmful-algae-could-be-responsible-for-large-fish-kills/173100831
