Jump to content

Lake Okeechobee


Heads22

Recommended Posts

Yep, it isn't good. I have yet to get down there post-hurricane, but I live and work in the Indian River Lagoon watershed that receives a bunch of diverted water from the Okeechobee basin and it has really causes us big problems.

 

We talked about some of this before here right after the storms, but the frustrating thing is that if te natural systems were functioning the way the are supposed to, they would actually be resilient enoughto bounce back from even this kind of "once in a century" hit. The problem is the amount of water ditching, damming, and diversion, combined with the fact that the big slug of water is very nutrient polluted and not clean. There is also a very altered Okeechobee floodplain (the folks living around it got tired of their houses getting flooded in cases like this, so they "fixed" it).

 

What will prove most frustrating is if all of this derails the already precarious and contentious Everglades restoration plan - the single largest restoration ever attempted by man. Insted of going forward and finally getting at the $8 billion in core federal money to get it going, they will have to reassess all the parts of the system, change the plan accordingly, and the support and money for the project may well go bye bye.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...