Changes in water flow to Caloosahatchee attempting to revitalize ecosystems

A plan to increase the amount of water into the Caloosahatchee is sparking concerns. Some think it will help wildlife living in the river. Others say it could damage the river during dry season.

The South Florida Water Management District’s plan to increase the flows into the Caloosahatchee are aimd at improving vital factors for habitats.

We spoke to a local expert, who broke down the science involved with this major decision for Southwest Florida’s important waterway.

FGCU professor Dr. Barry Rosen with The Water School explained the exact increase SFWMD plans to make for water going in to the Caloosahatchee.

“Up until now the minimum flow was 300 cubic feet per second,” Rosen said. “They’re upping that to 457 cubic feet per second, so that’s a big jump up, a fifty percent jump.”

This means the river will be allocated more water in order to meet a higher baseline flow level during dry season.

“That means you’ve got more freshwater going down,” Rosen said. “It’s going to help the vallisneria, or tape grass, an important habitat in the Caloosahatchee. So it’s a really good thing.”

Rosen says tape grass is critical to the health of our local ecosystems.

“Then you’d start seeing saltwater fish move up into that and it’s habitat,” Rosen said. “We don’t want to lose that habitat. “It’s something that manatees can feed upon. It’s nursery grounds for fish, things like that so we want that tape grass.”

Some critics have cautioned that new set levels won’t be enough to have positive impacts. But Rosen said the district is taking it one step at a time, performing tests and monitoring the success of the tape grass.

“If through time we find that the value needs to go up, we can work on that as well,” Rosen said. “So, again, it’s not the amount of water that’s always flowing down that is the absolute floor that you can’t go below.”