With concern about algae blooms from Lake Okeechobee mounting in South Florida, Gov. Rick Scott on Wednesday announced plans to set up a grant program to get rid of septic tanks in communities in the affected areas.

  • Gov. Rick Scott: Aging septic tanks a factor in algae blooms
  • Proposal for next year's budget: match grants to get rid of septic tanks
  • Sen. Bill Nelson calls on Congress to pass water bill

Scott wants lawmakers to fund a 50/50 grant matching program for communities affected by discharges from Lake Okeechobee. The money would be used to move residents from septic tanks to sewers systems to curb pollution.

"It is up to all of us — the state, Florida's local communities and the federal government — to work together on long-term solutions to improve the quality of our water," Scott said in a news release Wednesday. "That is why I am going to commit state funding and match it with local contributions so we can work together on efforts to clean up our waters. "Septic tank runoff is a major contributor to the pollution in these water bodies, and I look forward to working with the Legislature to fund efforts to curb it."

The proposal would not go to lawmakers until 2017, when they would decide on the 2017-2018 budget.

Discharges from Lake Okeechobee have been blamed for the recent growth of blue-green algal blooms in the St. Lucie Estuary and the Caloosahatchee Estuary, which run east and west of the lake.

However, Scott contends septic systems and wastewater are also a major problem for the estuaries.

Scott's proposal would help communities along the Indian River Lagoon, including the St. Lucie Estuary. It's not known if that would include Brevard County, which had its own problems with brown algae blooms in the Indian River Lagoon earlier this year.

The announcement included no mention of dealing with increased water in Lake Okeechobee by sending it south. Environmentalists and Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Florida, said Scott and the Florida Legislature should be using Amendment 1 funds to buy land from U.S. Sugar to divert water to the south of the lake rather than east and west of the lake. The governor has avoided any discussion of doing so.


NASA took this satellite picture from Lake Okeechobee on July 2, 2016. It shows blue-green algae within the lake. The St. Lucie Canal is to the east of the lake. (NASA)

Sen. Bill Nelson: Pass bill to move Lake Okeechobee water

According to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, water from Lake Okeechobee historically would flow freely over the south rim of the lake and into the Everglades when the water is at a high stage. That area is now the Everglades Agricultural Area. The lake was not even connected to the St. Lucie River until the St. Lucie Canal was constructed in the 1920s.

The water that feeds Lake Okeechobee is primarily rain water that flows into the lake from several sources, including the Kissimmee River and the Kissimmee Basin in south Orange County, which provides more than 60 percent of the water into the lake.

Today, lake levels are managed by the Herbert Hoover Dike, which was constructed after a hurricane in 1928 caused the lake to flood, killing thousands.

The Corps of Engineers manages the aging dike, and the federal government has not allocated money to repair the dike. The Corps releases water into the St. Lucie Canal and the Caloosahatchee River to reduce lake levels. Last week, the Corps announced that it would reduce the amount of water released.

The South Florida Water Management District has been directed to find other places to store water, including the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes to the north. Florida Power & Light offered to take some into a cooling pond near one of its plants in Martin County.

However, the lake has taken in a large amount of rain this year.

Meanwhile, Sen. Bill Nelson made another push Wednesday to get lawmakers to pass a water bill that would allow the Army Corps of Engineers to move forward with the Central Everglades Planning Project and move more water south of Lake Okeechobee.

Congress is back in session, but its last working day before break is July 15, and it already has a mountain of legislation to go through. Congress doesn't return to Washington until Sept. 6.


This graphic shows the water system that flows into the Everglades, from the Kissimmee and Fisheating Creek Drainage Basin down into the Everglades itself. (Army Corps of Engineers)