NewsTreasure CoastRegion Martin County

Actions

Heavy rain adds to Treasure Coast water woes

Posted

The brown, murky water is sticking around on the Treasure Coast.

Environmentalists say it will stick around and the heavy rainfall Saturday isn't helping.

Over the past month at Sandsprit Park in Martin County, Peter Gahn has been seeing a lot of that dirty water.

"It's sad," said Gahn. "Going to keep the tourists away."

This week the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers ramped up Lake Okeechobee discharges with lake levels now at more than 17 feet.

Today, there was a different concern.

"Now we've got an inch already today," said Mark Perry with Florida's Oceanographic Society.

He's worried heavy downpours will cause more runoff in the St. Lucie Basin.

"All the local rain through the canals almost amount to 2 billion gallons, adding to what we have from the lake," said Perry.

Inflows into the lake continue to outweigh what's being discharged east and west.