Rivers Coalition, Inc.

Since the late 1800s the Florida Legislature established the goal of draining the swamps in the southern area of the state (the Everglades) and “reclaiming lands” for agricultural use and development. Upon achieving this goal the dream turned into a nightmare particularly here, on Florida’s Treasure Coast.

In the 1920s and before, the local Chamber of Commerce had wanted the canal from Lake Okeechobee to attach to the St Lucie River and they fought for its location, as they saw it as an opportunity to build their local economy through the timber, cattle and agricultural industries, as well as giving boaters access across the state through Lake Okeechobee. Once this was achieved in 1923, there was even a celebration in Downtown Stuart, with the local marching band.

Within one year, the locals saw a change in their beloved river and its’ once “best in the state” fishing. Stuart News editor, Ernie Lyons had always been against the connection, but he now began prolifically writing about the "destruction of paradise," and a local group of business leaders and residents were formed to fight for change.

Unfortunately, there was no turning back, and the Army Corp of Engineers continued to enlarge the canal for flood control as well as adding other canals. In the late 40s and 50s the C-23 and C-24 were added to drain what is now St Lucie County for the citrus industry. Ironically, these waters used to flow into the St Johns River basin. The problem was getting worse instead of better.

Today the St Lucie River is hit with polluted freshwater discharges in both its north and south forks largely due to excessive runoff from agriculture and some residential runoff. This pollution includes fertilizers, bio-solids, pesticides, chemicals and other pollutants. More recently, it includes several strains of algae in various stages of development. The largest and most damaging of these discharges come when Lake Okeechobee rises dangerously high and the excess water that originally went south to hydrate the Everglades and balance the salinity levels in Florida Bay is shunted to us to protect the man made lands created south of the lake.

So it is clear that groups have been fighting for change since the 1920s to restore the health of the river, and the group that holds that baton today in the Rivers Coalition.

More recently, to fight against this man made damage, in the 1990s, the St Lucie Rivers Initiative presented a “St Lucie River Report to Congress” noting especially the toxic ooze at the bottom of the river that is up to 23 feet thick in some areas, and begging the government for reform. In the end, after great hope and many promises, the document was basically ignored.

In 1998, distraught business & environmental groups gathered and formed the Rivers Coalition knowing the importance of the estuary to the local economy. In 2004 and 2005 three hurricanes hitting the area caused extensive releases and again decimated the river. A law suit against the federal government was filed in the mid 2000’s by the Rivers Coalition Defense Fund, a branch of the Rivers Coalition. The releases were considered a “taking” of personal river front property.

While the Defense Fund did not prevail, as the judge handling the case cited the “statute of limitations”, the law suit was not in vain. Since legal action has become the “modus operandi” for change in our times, the case was highly publicized locally, and on state and national levels. The pressure was on for change.

Ironically, it was the advent of social media that gave us the ability to affect true change. It started with our young, tech-savvy friends harnessing email to educate far more of our neighbors about the problems we face and then using the same mass communication methods to turn out supporters by the thousands. Where protests and demonstrations used to be “the same old crowd” that could be easily ignored by the press and the elected officials, thousands of younger, more energetic voters became impossible to ignore. Candidates campaigned on promises to fix the water problems and, once elected, they were held to their promises. We forced changes to
legislation, regulation and operating procedures. We influenced the new governor to turn over the entire South Florida Water Management District Board of Governors including the addition of our own clean water activist, Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch, and we are participating in the creation of a new guideline for the Army Corps placing value on our health and safety in decision making about maintaining lake levels and initiating discharges.

Today, the Rivers Coalition continues to educate the public, engage in dialogue with state and federal agencies, and advocate for “sending the water south,” so as not to waste the millions of gallons of fresh water that go to tide through our estuary and most important to send it south to the Everglades where it is needed and nature intended. This is complicated as the Everglades Agriculture Area is directly south of the lake. But we will prevail.

Thank you for joining us on the long journey to SAVE OUR RIVER.