None of the new Lake Okeechobee plans solve all of the problems
For the first time since the Lake Worth Lagoon was perverted by saltwater inlets gouged into its sides, it may officially be considered an estuary by water managers – a move that would offer protections from belching discharges of black muck.
The ascension in ecological stature for the 20-mile lagoon is included in proposals being considered by the Army Corps of Engineers in the new management plan for Lake Okeechobee.
Lake Worth Lagoon’s designation in the current plan adopted in 2008, and previous iterations, was simply as an outlet for water going south, another drain for Lake Okeechobee without much consideration given to its environmental health and community importance.
The result was decades of damaging releases through the C-51 canal of sediment-laden water from Lake Okeechobee and a watershed 42-times larger than the lagoon itself.
“Just the thought that the lagoon was ever considered part of our flood control system I find so disturbing because it is an estuary. No wonder it needs a lot of help,” Everglades Law Center Executive Director Lisa Interlandi said. “I think this is the key to the lagoon moving forward.”
Details of the new plan, which is saddled with the title of “Lake Okeechobee System Operating Manual”, or LOSOM, were debated Thursday at a South Florida Water Management District Governing Board meeting.
The Corps is expected to announce its tentative choice from six proposals on Monday, but the public will have a chance to weigh in until a more finalized plan is decided on Aug. 4. That plan will continue to be tweaked until October.
At stake is the fortune of the only Everglades in the world, which is fed by the 730-square-foot Lake Okeechobee.
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But also in the balance is the lake’s world-renowned bass fishing, water supply for millions of South Floridians, Caloosahatchee River oysters, seagrass in the St. Lucie Estuary, black skimmers in the Lake Worth Lagoon, wading birds in Rescue Strand, sweet corn and sugar cane and jobs in agriculture, sacred tribal tree islands, and human health threatened by cyanotoxins from blue-green algae.
The good and bad of more water flow to the Everglades
Most of the plans, overall, are better for the environment than what’s happening now, but nothing will wholly solve the morass created by man’s arrogant attempt to dominate the indefatigable river of grass.
“One thing we are doing up here is we are giving a voice to something that has not had a voice before, whether it’s the St. Lucie or Caloosahatchee, all of the estuaries, or just nature,” said water management district governing board member Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch.
Historically, Lake Okeechobee overflowed its brim every year, trickling water south through the Everglades into Florida Bay.
The Herbert Hoover Dike girdled the lake so that farms and homes could be built. Canals now funnel water away from developed lands, dumping the lifeblood of the Everglades, as well as watershed runoff, into the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee estuaries and the Lake Worth Lagoon.
The discharges damage the brackish-water ecosystems, although the Caloosahatchee and Lake Worth Lagoon need some freshwater to balance salinity levels.
One of the goals of LOSOM is to send more water south to the Everglades, while stemming damaging flows to the estuaries.
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Under LOSOM plan “CC”, annual discharges from Lake Okeechobee to the Lake Worth Lagoon would be reduced 94% from 59,000-acre-feet per year to just over 3,000. The St. Lucie would see an estimated 69% decrease annually.
While the Caloosahatchee would see an increase in damaging releases under plan CC, which is favored by most environmental groups, a tweak presented Thursday by the district would improve flows for the river.
Water flowing south to the Everglades would more than triple on an annual basis under CC, and more than double during the dry season.
Lake Okeechobee itself would be kept at a higher water level than what scientists say is good for its ecosystem and the growth of submerged vegetation, such as eel grass – a keystone species for a healthy lake.
“We’re all scared about what is going to happen here,” said Audubon Florida’s Lake Okeechobee expert Paul Gray, who noted that the lake hasn’t recovered from 2017’s Hurricane Irma, which pushed lake levels above 17 feet.
Also unsettled by the popular CC plan are water users, including agriculture, and some utilities and municipalities that are concerned they will be shorted water and suffer during drought years.
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Why Palm Beach County ‘doesn’t support any of the models
Notably, Palm Beach County and the City of West Palm Beach said they weren’t prepared to recommend a plan and asked for more time to study the models, which were released July 6.
Lake Okeechobee is a water source for the farms in Everglades Agricultural Area, and a backup water source for Palm Beach County, including West Palm Beach, Palm Beach and South Palm Beach, which needed lake water this spring but couldn’t take it because of blue-green algae concerns.
![Workers for Roth Farms tend to rows of lettuce in Belle Glade, Tuesday, March 24, 2020. [ALLEN EYESTONE/palmbeachpost.com]](https://www.gannett-cdn.com/presto/2020/11/13/NPPP/81f3b067-2de0-43f5-a9e9-53b1d8bd07b1-A1_secondary_Sunday_20200324_CV_Farming_03A.jpg?width=660&height=193&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp)
The current Lake Okeechobee management plan was approved in 2008 after the Corps realized the dike needed repairs or was in danger of breaching.
During the dike fix, water users with permits that guaranteed them a certain amount of water had those guarantees reduced so that the lake could be held at a lower level. Tommy Strowd, executive director of the Lake Worth Drainage District, said the Corps promised that after the dike was repaired, previous water supply allotments would be restored.
![Water levels at Grassy Waters Preserve in West Palm Beach seem normal Wednesday, September 25, 2019 despite the month being more than 5 inches below normal and the driest September so far in 126-years of record keeping. On Tuesday, Lake Okeechobee stood at 13.74 feet above sea level, within the desired 12.5 to 15.5 feet zone set in 2008. [LANNIS WATERS/palmbeachpost.com]](https://www.gannett-cdn.com/presto/2020/11/30/NPPP/8b7d3766-8550-49a9-8940-5822c7962564-092619_Grassy_waters_dry_2.JPG?width=660&height=400&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp)
“Palm Beach County doesn’t support any of these models, we see problems with all of them,” said Commissioner Melissa McKinlay, whose district includes the western portion of the county, which is the largest agricultural producer east of the Mississippi River. “We can’t ignore that not only are they growing food for this nation, but these are jobs that my constituents hold, this is what is keeping their lights on and gas in their cars.”
The changes to how the Lake Worth Lagoon will be treated have been discussed for years but are now expected to be written into the new Lake Okeechobee operating manual, said Jennifer Reynolds, director of ecosystem restoration for the water management district.
Lake Okeechobee water would only go to the lagoon if water is being sent to the St. Lucie, Reynolds said.
“Identifying and acknowledging the Lake Worth Lagoon as an estuary is a good thing and long overdue,” said County Commissioner Gregg Weiss, who is on the Lake Worth Lagoon Steering Committee. “Selecting the right LOSOM alternative requires carefully balancing different interests.”
Weiss said he hasn’t taken a position yet on the different proposals.
Why protecting Lake Worth Lagoon is so important for Palm Beach County
Until the mid-1800s, the Lake Worth Lagoon was a freshwater body, supplied primarily with water through ground seepage.
The Lake Worth Inlet, also called the Palm Beach Inlet, was first cut in the mid-19th century to open the lagoon to the Atlantic Ocean. In 1918, the inlet was stabilized and the channel widened and deepened to benefit the Port of Palm Beach.
In 1925-27 the Boynton Inlet, or South Lake Worth Inlet, was created.
The C-51 canal discharges to an area between Lake Worth and West Palm Beach that is 8 miles from the Boynton Beach Inlet and 10 miles from the Lake Worth Inlet. That distance limits flushing of the sediment and nutrient laden discharges.
An April 30 letter to the Corps from County Water Resources Manager Jeremy McBryan notes that $88 million in county and state money has been spent to restore the lagoon only to have Lake Okeechobee releases “wreak havoc” on the investments.
“Now the lagoon will be part of the decision process instead of just considered ‘flows south,’” Reynolds said. “Everyone thinks that flows south are all beneficial, but clearly that’s not the case for the lagoon.”
@Kmillerweather
