CBS4.com
May 29, 2007

Lake 'O' Will Hit A New Record Low This Week

By Ted Scouten

http://cbs4.com/topstories/local_story_149110517.html

Lake Okeechobee will set a dubious record in the next day or so. A year and half long drought has just about dropped the level of the lake to its lowest level in recorded history.

As of Tuesday morning the lake was just 9.00 feet above sea level. That's less than half an inch above its recorded lowest point of 8.97 feet in the summer of 2001. Normally the lake should be at 13.24 feet above sea level.

The South Florida Water Management Districts said over the last several month's the lake has been losing about half an inch a day, so we could hit the all time low mark by Wednesday.

Lake Okeechobee, which is the main supply source to the Everglades during dry times, is also the primary reserve source of water for more than 5 million people who live along Florida's East Coast. In an effort to conserve as much water as possible, the SFWMD has imposed some of the toughest water-use restrictions in South Florida's history, and don't plan to rescind those restrictions anytime soon.

As we head into our wet season, forecasters are calling for a 40 to 50 percent chance of rain this weekend, but that will only be a 'drop in the bucket'. We’re going to need about 60 inches of rain fall between now and November in order to pull the lake Okeechobee water levels to where we would like them to be prior to moving into the next dry season.

CBS4 meteorologist Jeff Berardelli said it would take the amount of rain associated with a tropical depression or tropical storm to have a substantial impact on lake's level.