South Florida ecosystem is in peril

The recent completion of the rehabilitation of the Lake Okeechobee Herbert Hoover Dike (HHD) was a monumental public works project by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACOE). The earthen dam was a safety hazard and required fortification to enhance the USACOE oversight of flood control in the Lake Okeechobee watershed.

Unfortunately, the state’s jurisdiction over water supply and quality requires a great deal more effort to protect the ecology of the lake and downstream rivers and coastal estuaries. High water levels in Lake Okeechobee destroy the wetland vegetation around the perimeter of the lake, thereby eliminating critical natural filtration of surface water runoff and essential fish and wildlife habitat. Excessive nutrient pollution from the approximately 440,000 acres of sugar cane fields draining into the lake results in toxic algae blooms. 

The South Florida Water Management District suggests that the newly reconstructed HHD will enhance management flexibility concerning the release of water from Lake Okeechobee. The challenge is whether the water released to the Caloosahatchee, Saint Lucie or the Everglades meets the necessary water quality standards and levels to prevent increased frequency and duration of harmful algae blooms in the coastal estuaries and sufficient quantity of clean fresh water to rehydrate and renourish the Everglades and Florida Bay.

Our entire south Florida ecosystem is in peril and there are a number of meaningful steps that the state Legislature and the South Florida Water Management District could implement to restore the Everglades, Florida Bay and coastal estuaries.

1) Request that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers conduct a cost benefit analysis for an  emergency spillway on the south side of Lake Okeechobee to alleviate pressure on the HHD, thereby reducing reliance on the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie Rivers as the relief valves during wet years for massive releases of polluted water discharged to the estuaries on the west and east coast of south Florida.

2) Coordinate with Florida’s Congressional Delegation to support acquisition of 50,000 acres (20,000 U.S. Sugar and 30,000 Florida Crystals) of sugar cane fields between the North New River and Miami canals south of Lake Okeechobee for storage, treatment and conveyance of water to the Everglades and Florida Bay. 2014 Amendment 1 funds available for purchase of conservation lands.

3) Coordinate with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) to include nitrogen in the Lake Okeechobee Basin Management Action Plan (BMAP).

4) Support modification to the Lake Okeechobee System Operating Manual that provides equitable water conservation practices for agriculture, utilities and environmental releases.

5) Implement nutrient numeric standards for water back pumped from the sugar cane fields into Lake Okeechobee to prevent high concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus from entering the lake resulting in harmful algae blooms.

6) Implement the 1996 Polluters Pay Constitutional Amendment that requires those causing water pollution within the approximately 700,000 acre Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) to be primarily responsible for paying the costs of the abatement of the pollution. Sugar farming occurs on approximately 440,000 acres in the EAA.

Ray Judah is a former Lee County commissioner.