http://www.tcpalm.com/tcp/local_news/article/0,2545,TCP_16736_5620196,00.html
Elevated levels of arsenic as well as a soup of pesticides and other chemicals were among contaminants found in thousands of truckloads of muck recently cleaned out of Lake Okeechobee's drought-exposed bottom.Arsenic levels on the northern part of the lake bed were as much as four times the allowable limit for residential land, according to newly released test results from the South Florida Water Management District. Independent lab tests of a sample show even higher levels on the eastern part of the lake, exceeding what would be allowed to be spread on commercial and agricultural land.
The district's test results are expected to guide decisions about how to dispose of mounds of pollution-laden muck, scraped away by bulldozers and backhoes brought in to take advantage of a drought that dropped the lake to a historic low.
Spreading the muck on agricultural, commercial or industrial land, as well as dumping it in landfills, is among the options proposed.
"We are evaluating how and where we dispose of it ... so we don't create a new problem someplace else," said Chip Merriam, the district's deputy executive director.
Although scraping away the muddy layer should breathe new life into the suffocating lake bed, disposing of the black ooze could spread harmful pollutants elsewhere.
For example, mounds of muck temporarily are being piled on land intended to become a water storage area that one day is expected to filter water headed to the lake.
Some of the muck could end up as the base of a parking lot planned at a public campground and marina beside the lake.
The water management district contends the muck can be used safely, as long as it doesn't end up on residential land where it runs the risk of direct human contact. The muck proposed to be used for the parking lot at the Okeetantie campground, on the northern portion of the lake, would be covered by asphalt and out of reach of children and other campers.
"A pesticide is a poison," said Herb Zebuth, a former scientist for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, who worked on Everglades restoration. "These are very complex chemical compounds. These things need to be taken seriously."
Also, testing for many contaminants may show individually the levels don't raise concerns, but mix them all together and the health and environmental consequences may be unknown, Zebuth warned.