Dumping From Lake O–Understanding Acre Feet and Cubic Feet Per Second, Indian River Lagoon

I believe the awful situation regarding the consistent degradation of the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon by the Army Corp of Engineers and South Florida Water Management District could be helped if we would learn to “speak their language.”

Communication is particularly difficult for the public during dumping of polluted Lake Okeechobee water through the C-44 canal into the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon. (Which may start again any day now…)

Let’s learn some “releasing terminology” in case we don’t speak it that well….

When the ACOE/SFWMD starts dumping, there are two major terms: CFS and ACRE FEET that are good to know.

1. “CFS” means “cubic feet per second.” This is a “RATE of discharge representing a volume of 1 cubic foot passing a given point during 1 second of time.”

2. An ACRE FOOT, the second term, is a VOLUME of water “that covers one acre at a depth of 12 inches.”

Obviously, higher CFS numbers translate into higher ACRE FEET numbers. But what do these numbers mean?

Easily put, for the St Lucie River, none of it, if dumping, is “good.”

For reference, during the “Lost Summer” of 2013, the highest CFS discharge I heard reported was up to 7000 cfs during the very height of the releases. Usually, it was lower,May-October, ranging from about 200 to 4000 cfs.

Now acre feet.

According to Robert Johnson, Director of South Florida Natural Resouces Center at Everglades Nation Park, who presented at the Everglades Coalition last week, —-NOT during 2013, but ON AVERAGE, “800,000 acre feet of water from Lake Okeechobee flows per year towards the southern estuaries.”

Mind you, the larger Caloosahatchee on the west coast takes the majority of that water. I am no expert, but I think I can safely say, they usually take closer to 2/3 the water the water the St Lucie does.

Can you do the math? I need my calculator! AG! Over 200,000 Acre feet for sure going towards the St Lucie and over 500,000 going towards the Caloosahatchee.

In the end, no matter what, the numbers are staggering! Truly mind-blowing. 800,000 acre feet, would need 800,000 acres to hold 800,000 acre feet of water at 12 inches. The EAA is 700,000 acres….

So, let’s learn to speak the language and communicate our wishes! And take a look at the handout below. It’s a good one!

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After I wrote the above blog, Mark Perry of Florida Oceanographic contacted me, so I wrote another post relating to the above post. It is here should you wish to read it: (http://jacquithurlowlippisch.com/2015/01/15/water-water-everywhere-st-lucie-riverindian-river-lagoon/)