In his April 14 op-ed, South Florida Water Coalition Director Ryan Rossi asserts that U.S. Rep. Brian Mast forced the Corps of Engineers to drain Lake Okeechobee and endanger the drinking water of 8 million people. That assertion could only be made in a fact-free universe.
While Lake Okeechobee has not fallen below the water shortage line, it is going down. But there has been no drainage and no lowering of the Lake to draw down water levels this dry season.
There is a plus side to the lower levels. The submerged vegetation in the Lake that was destroyed by high water is now growing back. That’s not an environmental “frill”. That natural vegetation reduces the size and intensity of toxic algae blooms on the Lake. Those toxic blooms are a public health problem for people and they are a problem for water users as well as for the natural environment. You can’t drink toxic water.
So, besides the fact that it was a hot, dry March, where did all the water in the Lake go?
No water is going to Everglades National Park or Florida Bay. A small percentage is going to try to preserve seagrass beds in the Caloosahatchee Estuary.
The great sucking sound you heard that dramatically lowered Lake levels were the discharges to the Everglades Agricultural Area. That’s where 60% of the water went. Most of the rest of it went to agricultural irrigation elsewhere around the Lake.
Congressman Mast did not drain the Lake and 8 million people are not about to suffer water shortages because of low Lake levels.
The big loser this year in terms of drinking water supply is Miami-Dade County. They are the largest water user in South Florida.
Miami-Dade has no pipes or canals or permits that allow it to draw water from the Lake. They depend on wells in the porous Biscayne Aquifer.
Miami-Dade benefits from the environmental discharges south to Everglades National Park. Higher water levels on the west side of the wellfields are critical in preventing salt intrusion. Those flows have been cut off.
The Miami wellfields do not benefit from holding water in the Lake for sugar to use.
We have a tremendous challenge in implementing the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan and creating a water management system that will serve all our needs.
We can’t do that by blaming scapegoats and ignoring reality. Look at the numbers.
Maggy Hurchalla is a Florida native, a four-term Martin County Commissioner, a winner of the National Wetlands Award, a member of the Everglades Hall of Fame and a fighter for Florida’s environment.
