Converted
12-11-2003, 09:45 AM
From the Stuart News. Looks like the ducks around lake O will have even more places to stay other than the lake
Farmers come to aid of Lake O
Billions of gallons of water from Lake Okeechobee and Lake Tohopekaliga will be diverted to private farm land to help prevent ecological damage from discharges.
By Neil Santaniello Sun-Sentinel
December 11, 2003
Often cast as polluters of Lake Okeechobee, farmers are offering to use their ponds and empty fields to store stormwater to help avert ecological damage to the over filled lake and the estuaries into which it drains.
In an unprecedented plan led by South Florida water managers, billions of gallons of water — from Lake Tohopekaliga and Lake Okeechobee — would be diverted to private farm land chiefly in Glades and Hendry counties. Some water already has been moved to Seminole Indian reservation land and into remote wetlands in southwestern Palm Beach County.
The water transfers, outlined in an emergency order signed Monday by South Florida Water Management District Executive Director Henry Dean, should offset discharges that began Nov. 10 from the 30-square-mile Lake Tohopekaliga near Kissimmee.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said the releases are a vital step for its $8 million restoration of Lake Tohopekaliga.
Environmentalists and Martin County ardently opposed the releases they characterized as harmful for Lake Okeechobee and the St. Lucie River — both downstream of Lake Toho.
The water would provide an agricultural benefit by seeping into the ground to raise water tables that nourish crops, district officials said.
The water district calculates the Toho discharges could raise brimming Lake Okeechobee about 1.2 inches after flowing down the Kissimmee River. Lake Okeechobee stood at 15.8 feet above sea level Wednesday.
Some of the private land will intercept some Toho water while other properties would absorb water from 730-square-mile Lake Okeechobee so it won’t rise and spill into the St. Lucie River estuary, where earlier discharges hurt marine life.
"It’s basically unacceptable that there be anything else added" to either the lake or the river, district Operations Director Bob Howard said. "There is substantial public concern."
The Central Florida lake is being lowered to expose almost half its bottom.
State biologists plan to bulldoze the exposed vegetation and muck, which is choking out fish habitat.
The farmlands belong to some of Florida’s largest agribusiness giants, including Lykes Brothers, Allico Corp. and Hilliard Brothers, the water district said. Water deliveries began about a week ago to areas that did not need approval.
Some has been funneled into the Seminole tribe’s Big Cypress reservation in Collier County, into Everglades filter marshes and into the Holey Land Wildlife Management Area west of U.S 27 near the Palm Beach-Broward line. Some will go to the Seminoles’ Brighton reservation.
Howard said the district has arranged enough land to store more that twice the 45,000 acre-feet of water that draining Toho might generate.
Farmers only have to accept what they can store in retention ponds and open spaces. They cannot discharge the water once they accept it.
Farmers come to aid of Lake O
Billions of gallons of water from Lake Okeechobee and Lake Tohopekaliga will be diverted to private farm land to help prevent ecological damage from discharges.
By Neil Santaniello Sun-Sentinel
December 11, 2003
Often cast as polluters of Lake Okeechobee, farmers are offering to use their ponds and empty fields to store stormwater to help avert ecological damage to the over filled lake and the estuaries into which it drains.
In an unprecedented plan led by South Florida water managers, billions of gallons of water — from Lake Tohopekaliga and Lake Okeechobee — would be diverted to private farm land chiefly in Glades and Hendry counties. Some water already has been moved to Seminole Indian reservation land and into remote wetlands in southwestern Palm Beach County.
The water transfers, outlined in an emergency order signed Monday by South Florida Water Management District Executive Director Henry Dean, should offset discharges that began Nov. 10 from the 30-square-mile Lake Tohopekaliga near Kissimmee.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said the releases are a vital step for its $8 million restoration of Lake Tohopekaliga.
Environmentalists and Martin County ardently opposed the releases they characterized as harmful for Lake Okeechobee and the St. Lucie River — both downstream of Lake Toho.
The water would provide an agricultural benefit by seeping into the ground to raise water tables that nourish crops, district officials said.
The water district calculates the Toho discharges could raise brimming Lake Okeechobee about 1.2 inches after flowing down the Kissimmee River. Lake Okeechobee stood at 15.8 feet above sea level Wednesday.
Some of the private land will intercept some Toho water while other properties would absorb water from 730-square-mile Lake Okeechobee so it won’t rise and spill into the St. Lucie River estuary, where earlier discharges hurt marine life.
"It’s basically unacceptable that there be anything else added" to either the lake or the river, district Operations Director Bob Howard said. "There is substantial public concern."
The Central Florida lake is being lowered to expose almost half its bottom.
State biologists plan to bulldoze the exposed vegetation and muck, which is choking out fish habitat.
The farmlands belong to some of Florida’s largest agribusiness giants, including Lykes Brothers, Allico Corp. and Hilliard Brothers, the water district said. Water deliveries began about a week ago to areas that did not need approval.
Some has been funneled into the Seminole tribe’s Big Cypress reservation in Collier County, into Everglades filter marshes and into the Holey Land Wildlife Management Area west of U.S 27 near the Palm Beach-Broward line. Some will go to the Seminoles’ Brighton reservation.
Howard said the district has arranged enough land to store more that twice the 45,000 acre-feet of water that draining Toho might generate.
Farmers only have to accept what they can store in retention ponds and open spaces. They cannot discharge the water once they accept it.