The St. Lucie Canal, also known as the C-44 Canal or simply C-44, is a man-made canal in Martin County,

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, connecting

Lake Okeechobee Lake Okeechobee (), also known as Florida's Inland Sea, is the largest freshwater lake in the U.S. state of Florida. It is the tenth largest natural freshwater lake among the 50 states of the United States and the second-largest natural freshwat ...

to the

Indian River Lagoon The Indian River Lagoon is a grouping of three lagoons: the Mosquito Lagoon, the Banana River, and the Indian River, on the Atlantic Coast of Florida; one of the most biodiverse estuaries in the Northern Hemisphere and is home to more than 4,300 ...

. The canal was built between 1916 and 1924 to divert floodwaters from the lake into the St. Lucie Estuary via the South Fork of the

St. Lucie River The St. Lucie River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed April 18, 2011 estuary linked to a coastal river system in St. Lucie and Martin counties in the Florida, United ...

. Deepened in 1937 to enable the passage of boats, the St. Lucie Canal is now the eastern segment of the

Okeechobee Waterway The Okeechobee Waterway or Okeechobee Canal is a relatively shallow artificial waterway in the United States, stretching across Florida from Fort Myers on the west coast to Stuart on Florida's east coast. The waterway can support tows such as b ...

. The C-44 has been a source of contention since its construction. The canal has had significant environmental impacts—restoration projects in the St. Lucie River are the northernmost component of the

Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan The Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) is the plan enacted by the U.S. Congress for the restoration of the Everglades ecosystem in southern Florida. When originally authorized by the U.S. Congress in 2000, it was estimated that CERP ...

Description

The St. Lucie Canal connects to Lake Okeechobee at Port Mayaca, Florida. The canal is deep as a result of its second deepening in 1949. It has a rate of flow of per second. In 1933, 16 fixed

spillways A spillway is a structure used to provide the controlled release of water downstream from a dam or levee, typically into the riverbed of the dammed river itself. In the United Kingdom, they may be known as overflow channels. Spillways ensure th ...

were approved for construction to reduce

shoaling In biology, any group of fish that stay together for social reasons are shoaling, and if the group is swimming in the same direction in a coordinated manner, they are schooling. In common usage, the terms are sometimes used rather loosely. Ab ...

. The C-44 has a

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, t ...

of , equivalent to .

Water flow

In 1924, the canal′s original flow capacity was per second. In 1937, the canal was deepened to increasing its flow capacity. In 1949, it was deepened to , which increased the flow capacity to per second. According to the

Florida Department of Environmental Protection The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) is the Florida government agency responsible for environmental protection. History By the mid-1960s, when the federal government was becoming increasingly involved in initiatives design ...

, the St. Lucie Canal flows both east to the St. Lucie Estuary and west to Lake Okeechobee "on about an equal basis."

Navigation

The St. Lucie Canal connects to the Caloosahatchee Waterway, which connects Lake Okeechobee to the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an oceanic basin, ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of ...

Fort Myers Fort Myers (or Ft. Myers) is a city in southwestern Florida and the county seat and commercial center of Lee County, Florida, United States. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 92,245 in 20 ...

, Florida.

Locks and structures

There are two

locks Lock(s) may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainment * ''Lock ...

on the St. Lucie Canal. The

Port Mayaca Lock and Dam The Port Mayaca Lock is a navigable lock and dam on the Okeechobee Waterway ( St. Lucie Canal), adjacent to U.S. Route 441 and U.S. Route 98 at Canal Point, in Martin County, Florida, United States. It is located near Port Mayaca at latitude 2 ...

(also known as S-308) is located at the western end of the canal at its outlet to Lake Okeechobee. Its

rise Rise or RISE may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional entities * '' Rise: The Vieneo Province'', an internet-based virtual world * Rise FM, a fictional radio station in the video game ''Grand Theft Auto 3'' * Rise Kujikawa, a video ...

is typically . The St. Lucie Lock and Dam (S-80) divides the canal from sea level on the eastern side, a rise of about . A structure known as S-153 regulates water flow from the Levee 65 Borrow Canal into the St. Lucie Canal.

Environmental and navigation problems

Fresh water discharge

One of the major problems resulting from the construction of C-44 is that control of the water levels of Lake Okeechobee causes too much fresh water to discharge from the canal into the St. Lucie Estuary. Large discharges from Lake Okeechobee into C-44 cause salinity levels to drop rapidly, killing many species in the

estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environment ...

Turbidity

High flow rates in the canal result in

erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is distin ...

and the transport of

sediment Sediment is a naturally occurring material that is broken down by processes of weathering and erosion, and is subsequently transported by the action of wind, water, or ice or by the force of gravity acting on the particles. For example, sand an ...

into the St. Lucie Estuary that can smother

benthic The benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean, lake, or stream, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. The name comes from ancient Greek, βένθος (bénthos), meaning "t ...

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

s. The increased

turbidity Turbidity is the cloudiness or haziness of a fluid caused by large numbers of individual particles that are generally invisible to the naked eye, similar to smoke in air. The measurement of turbidity is a key test of water quality. Fluids can ...

of high flow rates also results in sediment filling navigation channels.

Drainage basin

Drainage from the canal′s drainage basin into the St. Lucie Canal creates water quality problems in the St. Lucie Estuary.

History

Construction of the C-44 Canal began in 1916 and was completed in 1924. The original purpose of the canal was to allow for an improved way to divert floodwaters from Lake Okeechobee. The canal was originally designed to flow into Manatee Pocket instead of the South Fork of the St. Lucie River. The C-44 has been a source of contention since its construction in 1916. Records indicate that people have been complaining about the negative impacts of the canal since the early 1950s.

Timeline

* 1916: Construction begins on canal C-44. * 1924: Construction is completed, providing a flow capacity of per second. * 1937: The C-44 is deepened to to allow for the navigation of vessels to and from Lake Okeechobee. * 1949: The C-44 is deepened to , increasing the flow capacity to per second.

References

{{rivers of Florida, state=collapsed Canals in Florida 1916 establishments in Florida