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June 6, 2007

 

Lake group to consider flow way

 

http://www.newszap.com/articles/2007/06/05/fl/lake_okeechobee/aok01.txt

 

By Pete Gawda

 

Even in this time of record low lake levels, there is discussion about what to do with excess lake water.

When the County Coalition for Responsible Management of Lake Okeechobee, the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee Estuaries and Lake Worth Lagoon meets Wednesday, June 6, in Okeechobee they will be discussing Plan 6, a controversial plan that would send excess lake water south through the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) rather than sending it east and west through the estuaries.

The collation is made up of commissioners representing Okeechobee, St. Lucie, Martin, Lee, Palm Beach, Hendry, Glades, Highlands, Osceola and Polk counties.

In recent years, during times of high lake levels, residents of the east and west coasts of Florida have protested excess lake water being discharged through the Caloosahatchee River and the St. Lucie Canal. This excess fresh water upsets the salinity balance of the water near the east and west coast.

The proposed flow way would cover about 230 square miles - about one-fifth of the EAA. The flow way would start two miles north of the Bolles Canal, an east-west canal near South Bay, and vary in width from 7.2 miles to 13.1 miles. It would be 22.5 miles long with a capacity of 6,600 cubic feet per second. The existing east levee of the Miami Canal and the west levee of the North New River Canal would serve as levees for the flow way.

The coalition heard discussion on the issue at their meeting on March 1 and voted to hear more information from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (COE) and South Water Management District (SFWMD) before taking any action.

John Marshall, of the Arthur Marshall Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to Everglades restoration, will be there to champion the cause for a southern flow way.

COE and SFWMD representatives will be speaking against the issue.

The plan had been previously rejected by COE prior to the adoption of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Project.

The estimated cost of acquiring the additional land for this project is $560 million. The Rivers Coalition, a coalition of a number of organizations interested in protecting the environment, estimates that this is about one-third of the amount that would be needed for the deep storage wells that are currently planned for excess water storage.

The COE's position is that because of soil subsistence in the EAA, it would hold water like a bowl and excess water from a southern flow way would have to be pumped out of it into the Everglades.

Mr. Marshall says that some pumping will be necessary, but that will not be a problem.

He stated that Plan Six would more than double the size of current STAs to the south, and improve the quality of water sent to the Everglades.

"Restoring the natural southward flow of the Everglades ecosystem is absolutely critical to restoring the Everglades and saving the St. Lucie estuary from ruin," states a report on Plan 6 by the Rivers Coalition. "A flow way provides an array of benefits such as conveyance, storage and cleansing - even recreation."

Assuming that 400,000 acres could be flooded, SFWMD maintains that there would still have to be releases to the estuaries during wet years. In consecutive wet years the SFWMD maintains that storage areas would be full after the first year and not available during successive wet years.

Mr. Marshall contends that a southern flow way would lessen the need for discharges to the estuaries.

The COE maintains that the flow of water would not be sufficient in wet times because the area could not take any more water, or too little in dry times because there would be no water to send south.

The collation is scheduled to consider adoption of a resolution requesting federal and state governments to give serious consideration to Plan 6.

The coalition will also be receiving reports on the present condition of Lake Okeechobee.

If you go

What: Coalition for Responsible Management of Lake Okeechobee, St. Lucie and Calooshatchee Estuaries and Lake Worth Lagoon

When: Thursday, June 7, 10 a.m.

Where: Shrine Club, S.R. 78 W.