A recent hearing before the House Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee called attention to the fact that Florida is caught in a whipsaw between toxic algae blooms in the wet summers and extreme drought during the dry winter months.
The Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan prescribes a long-term solution, but in the meantime, moving more water from Lake Okeechobee to the Everglades early in the dry season would provide relief that is a win-win for everyone.
For the 2,000 species of plants and animals in the parched Everglades, the dry months can be fatal. Just this year, Everglades National Park caught fire in April because water levels had dropped more than two feet below the ground’s surface. Water managers were forced to ration one of the major canals serving Broward County because the Everglades became so dry.
Meanwhile, in the wet summer months, excess rainfall raises water levels in Lake Okeechobee so high that flood managers are routinely forced to flush billions of gallons of polluted lake water into estuaries along both coasts. These discharges destroy estuarine ecosystems, expose residents to toxic algae, and harm coastal economies.
Florida’s tropical savanna climate and outdated water management infrastructure make what former Gov. Reuben Askew once called, “the world’s first and only desert which gets 60 inches of rainfall.” Almost all of that rain happens during the months between June and November, and what’s needed is a way to store, purify and move more of it south, where it went historically and where it is still desperately needed all year long.
While we lack the infrastructure today to move enough water south during the wet season, restoration projects including the Central Everglades Plan, the Tamiami Trail bridges and the Everglades Reservoir will provide that framework. They represent our best long-range approach to securing Florida’s future, and both Congress and the State of Florida must continue to make their completion a priority.
During the dry months, however, the only impediment to moving more water south is a set of rules that govern where water goes and where it doesn’t. The Army Corps of Engineers is revising those rules and should explore proactive measures to increase dry season flows southward toward the Everglades and Florida Bay, using the infrastructure we already have.
The status quo encourages hoarding of water in the lake primarily for agricultural interests south of the lake, at the expense of all others — including the water supply for Palm Beach, Broward, Miami-Dade and Monroe counties, not to mention America’s Everglades, which received almost no water at all from the lake during the months preceding last spring’s wildfires.
Small wonder, then, that at the House Subcommittee hearing, when each of the witnesses was asked whether the status quo is acceptable, the only person who responded affirmatively was the representative of the Florida Farm Bureau.
Lake Okeechobee belongs to all of us, and the Corps of Engineers needs to revise its operating rules in a way that takes into account everyone’s needs, not just those of the powerful and entrenched agricultural interests south of Lake Okeechobee.
Revising the Lake Okeechobee operating rules to permit the release of more water southward at the beginning of the dry season would enable peat soils in the Everglades to stay wet longer, reducing soil loss and the risk of wildfire. It would protect the aquifer that provides drinking water for millions in South Florida.
Early dry season releases southward would also lower water levels in the lake, allowing flood control managers to manage Lake Okeechobee more flexibly, reducing the need to discharge large amounts of water into our estuaries during the rainy season.
As we continue building restoration projects, new rules for Lake Okeechobee can provide a more balanced short-term approach to dealing with Florida’s deadly cycles of drought and flood — a win-win for everyone.
Shannon Estenoz is Chief Operating Officer and Vice President of Policy & Programs of The Everglades Foundation. This article is based upon testimony she recently gave to the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Water Resources and the Environment.
