Red Tide - Charlotte Harbor

[Dougcole]

Originally Posted by HopCar

Doug, I’m having the same problem as you. I don’t like anybody who is running for office down here. I received a link from this organization that might help us pick the best of a bad lot.
https://www.bullsugar.org/vote2018

Hey Parks,


Yes, Bullsugar is doing good work. So is captains for clean water.


It's a lot about education. I don't think people in other parts of the US understand how bad it is getting here.



I've got to vote tomorrow and I'm still undecided.

[cardude01]

I’m gonna say the Democrats running, while not perfect, will be better stewards of the environment.

https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/10715792

[BruceK]

The world carries an excessive and increasing population needing food. That requires aggressive land clearing and agriculture, nutrient rich run off included. Get used to it.

[Dougcole]

Originally Posted by BruceK

The world carries an excessive and increasing population needing food. That requires aggressive land clearing and agriculture, nutrient rich run off included. Get used to it.

Yeah, but the world needs clean water one hell of lot more than it needs overpriced sugar.

[FootballFan]

Seems like the majority of Sugar Cane grown in FL is in Palm Beach County. The area adjacent to Lake O produces the higher quality "white", but is not the majority of production.


You want to blame "big sugar", lets find an evil profit oriented corporation to blame it on.


What about the Corp or Engineers? Channelization of the Kississime river eliminated the natural filter.
Opening up the navigation channels started the flows from the lake to the coasts.


Back pumping south to north (in those rare cases it occurs) is done why? To maintain lake levels during dry periods.

[psneeld]

Medevaced a really high percentage of premature babies out of that area from migrant families when I was stationed in Miami....diagnosed with conditions attributed to insecticide abuse.

Big sugar has had a bad reputation back to 1980 and earlier as far as I know.

It's what we don't know that is scary....

May not be the evil empire but.....

[HopCar]

Here is my plan when I become King of Florida.

Restore the natural flow of the Kissimmee River so it flows through marshes where cattails will remove much of the nutrients.

Complete the repairs to the dike around lake O so that the Corps is not forced to release so much water all at once.

Get some of the sugar growers south of the lake to convert to rice cultivation which would both clean the water and provide an income for them. I understand that crayfish can be raised in rice paddies giving a second source of income. Rice is already a small but profitable crop south of the lake.

The now pretty clean water flows south through the Everglades where it is needed.

[healhustler]

Thanks for that refreshing “solution” based post, Parks. What would it take to get you to Tallahassee?

[Dougcole]

Originally Posted by HopCar

Here is my plan when I become King of Florida.

Restore the natural flow of the Kissimmee River so it flows through marshes where cattails will remove much of the nutrients.

Complete the repairs to the dike around lake O so that the Corps is not forced to release so much water all at once.

Get some of the sugar growers south of the lake to convert to rice cultivation which would both clean the water and provide an income for them. I understand that crayfish can be raised in rice paddies giving a second source of income. Rice is already a small but profitable crop south of the lake.

The now pretty clean water flows south through the Everglades where it is needed.

If only the Trawler Forum had a like function.

[cardude01]

Vote for Parks!

[Dougcole]

Back pumping south to north (in those rare cases it occurs) is done why? To maintain lake levels during dry periods.[/QUOTE]




My understanding is that the back pumping is done during periods of high water when the "land" south of the lake gets too wet and begins to harm the cane and also threaten the homes of those who live south of the lake. Most of whom live there because they work in the sugar cane industry.



Back pumping water to Lake Okeechobee brings environmental concerns - Sun Sentinel

[FootballFan]

Originally Posted by Dougcole

Back pumping south to north (in those rare cases it occurs) is done why? To maintain lake levels during dry periods.

My understanding is that the back pumping is done during periods of high water when the "land" south of the lake gets too wet and begins to harm the cane and also threaten the homes of those who live south of the lake. Most of whom live there because they work in the sugar cane industry.



Back pumping water to Lake Okeechobee brings environmental concerns - Sun Sentinel[/QUOTE]


thank you for the clarification - totally willing to accept additional information. OK that I am not always right, will express my thoughts - but open to correction - great thing about a chat community.

Thought about this some more, not limited to this site - but general reading about this issue across multiple sources. Lots of blame placed on the Governor of FL. Boat is there in the winter, but I live in Texas. Not familiar with FL politics.

Not even sure if the governor is a R or a D - I could get the answer on google I know. But I don't think my question matters on which party the governor is from.

What specific actions could the Governor of FL take to solve this issue?

I keep hearing about big sugar influence - etc. Ok, what can the governor do? What specific steps are the lobbyist preventing?

Too often all of us get caught up in the narrative as presented by media. We need to dig deeper to understand.

[HopCar]

Footballfan, actually the State has been fairly pro-active. A lot of the problem is our weak representation in Congress. The Feds started funding several projects then cut off funding.

There are large areas south of the lake that have been stripped to bare rock in preparation for building holding areas that now are just sitting there with heavy equipment rusting.

The dike around the lake should have been repaired years ago but Congress won’t give the Corp of Eng. enough money to finish it.

I think the same thing has happened with the restoration of the Kissimmee River.

I suspect that the State could do more but tax money flows North in Florida. Not nearly enough comes back south from Tallahassee.

[FF]

"So what, we just don't do anything about the run off since we can't absolutely prove that it is making the red tide much worse?"

Stop the sale of all lawn and garden fertilizer for non farm use.

And see what happens.

Amateurs think if a little is good a bit more is better.

2000-3000 new arrivals each week might be adding to the problem.

[Mrwesson]

Originally Posted by Capitaine R

Some people down here may disagree about this extremely large out break being a natural occurring event.

There's been an early onset of extreme rain and it has to go somewhere. It seems like common sense to me.

It's a can of worms that locals are understandably extremely upset about but emotion doesn't trump data.

I don't have the data but IMO EVERYONE living there shares the burden..


Equally? We'll see.

The population doesn't like being told they are part of the problem so the fingers go pointing.

I think a big part of it is the canals far far away from the ocean and locals either not caring or not knowing that what they put in their yards(or directly in the canal) 50 miles from the beach ends up there. I've seen this first hand outside of Naples,FL.

[Donsan]

Hey (future) King Hopcar,

Please unobstruct and remove the worthless locks and dams on the Ocklawaha River which were built for the never completed Cross Florida Canal when you ascend to the throne!

[HopCar]

Originally Posted by Donsan

Hey (future) King Hopcar,

Please unobstruct and remove the worthless locks and dams on thr Oklawaha River which were built for the never completed Cross Florida Canal when you ascend to the throne!

I’ll do that. Didn’t Margery Kennan Rollins write a story about going down that river in a small boat?

[Donsan]

Originally Posted by HopCar

I’ll do that. Didn’t Margery Kennan Rollins write a story about going down that river in a small boat?

If Margery Kinnan Rawlings wrote such a story but I am unaware of it and have never read her writings. What I have read is about paddle wheel steamboats traversing the Ocklawaha in the 1800's.

[HopCar]

Donsan you would enjoy her writing. Thanks for correcting the spelling of her name.

As I recall she wrote a short story about rowing down the river to the St. John’s with another woman.

[FootballFan]

My perception is the channelization to connect Lake Okeechobee to the respective rivers on each side provides the pathway for gunk to flow out to each coast.


As boaters - would we be willing to give up the route?


In the 30's when it started it sounded great.


Closing off those channels would stop the outflow.


Full disclosure - I use the Okeechobee crossing on occasion.