In the summer of 2016, Florida's Treasure Coast smelled like death.
Now DeSantis just erased the problem that caused it – and the media won't tell you what he built.
And Ron DeSantis just finished the largest environmental restoration project in American history.
The Lost Summer That Changed Everything
The Army Corps of Engineers dumped billions of gallons of nutrient-laden water from Lake Okeechobee straight into the St. Lucie River.
Blue-green algae exploded – 200 square miles of it.
It wasn't just ugly. It was toxic.
Airborne toxins near the waterfront reached thousands of times above CDC safety levels.
Marina workers got headaches, burning eyes, and started vomiting on the job.
The algae piled up four to eight inches thick – seawall to seawall – at boatyards in Stuart.
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One repair yard that normally flooded with calls before the July Fourth weekend got five phone calls that week.
On Sanibel Island alone, crews hauled 850,000 pounds of dead marine life off the beaches, and the local chamber of commerce reported $46.8 million in lost revenue with hotel cancellation rates hitting 78 percent.
The crisis ran through 2018. Locals called it the "Lost Summer" – but they'd already used that name in 2013, because this pattern had been destroying Florida's waterways for decades.
Previous governors accepted it as the cost of doing business with a broken federal water management system.
DeSantis did not.
What He Just Built
This week, Governor Ron DeSantis stood in Martin County and marked the completion of the C-23 Canal Estuary Discharge Diversion Project.
The concept is simple. The scale is enormous.
Instead of letting excess water from the C-23 Canal pour directly into the St. Lucie Estuary – dragging all its nutrient pollution with it – the new system reroutes it entirely.
A brand-new seven-mile canal and a pump station with three pumps now redirect that water to the C-44 Reservoir and Stormwater Treatment Area.
Those three pumps can move 112,000 gallons per minute.
During operational testing alone, the system already diverted 4.8 billion gallons away from the estuary.
That's 4.8 billion gallons that didn't become a slimy, toxic, economy-killing algae mat.
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This $50 million project is one piece of a seven-year effort DeSantis has driven from the start.
Since taking office, he has invested nearly $9.5 billion in Everglades restoration – tripling South Florida's water storage capacity.
Florida Bay reached its salinity targets for the first time in decades.
The EAA Reservoir – what DeSantis calls the "crown jewel" of Everglades restoration – is now on track to finish five years ahead of schedule, in 2029 instead of 2034.
Over 90 Everglades projects have launched, been completed, or hit major milestones since 2019.
More than 5.6 million pounds of nitrogen and 933,000 pounds of phosphorus are now removed from South Florida's waterways every single year.
The Media Won't Say This
The Indian River Lagoon system is one of the most biologically diverse estuaries on earth.
A recent economic analysis found it generates $28.3 billion in annual economic activity and supports over 128,000 jobs across seven Florida counties.
Every dollar invested in restoration returns $24 in public benefits.
That's what was on the line in 2016 when the slime covered the water and the tourists fled.
The original federal timeline for finishing the EAA Reservoir was 2034.
DeSantis went to Washington, secured Trump's backing, cut through the red tape, and got the contracts executed nine months after the state-federal agreement was signed.
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Adam Telle, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works, said it plainly at the April announcement: "Today will mark the day that President Trump cemented his legacy as The Everglades President, and Governor DeSantis as The Everglades Governor."
DeSantis called the broader Everglades restoration the largest, most ambitious project in the nation's history.
He's right.
And the fact that most Americans have never heard of it tells you everything you need to know about what the media chooses to cover.
Sources:
- Governor Ron DeSantis, "Governor Ron DeSantis Announces Completion of the C-23 Canal Estuary Project," Florida Governor's Office, September 9, 2026.
- Jim Flannery, "The Great Stink on Florida Waters," Trade Only, August 2016.
- "Governor Ron DeSantis Celebrates Major Milestone in Everglades Restoration with Full Execution of Accelerated EAA Reservoir Contracts," Florida Governor's Office, April 13, 2026.
- "Investing in Indian River Lagoon Restoration Pays Dividends," NOAA Fisheries, February 27, 2026.
- "Indian River Lagoon economic impact surges to $28.3 billion annually, report shows," WQCS, November 2025.
