Lake Okeechobee releases new data as sides form on how to manage waterway
The Army Corps of Engineers published data Thursday on its five options for its new Lake Okeechobee System Operating Manual (LOSOM) after three years of gathering information and public information, following devastating blue-green algae outbreaks on both Florida coasts in 2018.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Jacksonville District held a press conference Friday to discuss water management for Lake Okeechobee and South Florida.
The group discussed the positive algal trend, but said it seems to be normal with what is going on across Florida right now.
The concern over toxic blue-green algae ramped up just before Memorial Day, when the toxic algae particles made their way into the West Palm Beach drinking water supply.
Then, health warnings were posted this week when toxic algae was found in three places in the C-51 canal, which connects to Lake Okeechobee and gushes into the Lake Worth Spillway and the Intracoastal Waterway.
Last week, Congressman Brian Mast and environmentalists said they support plan CC which they say limits releases to the east coast.
"We are at the point of a once in a probably multi-decade opportunity to change the damage that has been done," Mast said.
Congresswoman Lois Frankel told the Army Corps during an appropriations committee meeting last month that her stakeholders, including the city of West Palm Beach, favor a different plan – "BB" that follows the previous model.
"My stakeholders here believe that alternate BB is the only plan that actually improves the water supply to a pre-lors 2008 level of service," Frankel said.
Investigative Reporter Terri Parker asked Frankel Wednesday if, given the West Palm Beach algae infiltration, anyone's minds have been changed about which plan to recommend.
She emailed this statement:
"The decision on the operating schedule will be made by the Army Corps, not Congress. At the Energy and Water hearing, I was relaying the concerns presented to me by West Palm Beach, which is only one of the many stakeholders that will be affected by the LOSOM decision. I have and will continue to advocate that the Army Corps should make this decision based on science and free of any political influence to ensure all water users benefit from this new lake operating schedule."
A spokesman for the City of West Palm Beach said they were asking the Corps for a delay on the final decision so they can evaluate the data for each option and decide which one is best.
The South Florida Water Management Department held a meeting Thursday where people could give public comments.
“I come before you today for support of a more equitable operational plan that strives to send the maximum amount of water South to the everglades," said Merritt Matheson, Vice Mayor for the City of Stuart.
Now that the data on each option has been released, it’s up to those with concerns to give their input before the Army Corp of Engineers decides which plan it will go with. We're told that will be sometime in August, with a public workshop in late July.
Board members with South Florida Water Management will meet again on June 22
The Army Corps plans to have the LOSOM in place by the end of 2022 to coincide with the completion of work on the Herbert Hoover Dike.