The Lake Okeechobee watershed extends from Orlando to Florida Bay with water entering the lake from rainfall and the Kissimmee River. Inflow is six times greater than outfall and since Lake Okeechobee's Herbert Hoover Dike (HHD) is without a spillway the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers must rely on the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie as their relief valves for release of excess water to protect the integrity of the structure.
Water that historically overflowed the banks of Lake Okeechobee during the summer rainy season would sheet flow to the Everglades and Florida Bay. The development and expansion of the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) south of the lake severed the natural hydrological connection in the watershed.
With Lake Okeechobee managed for flood control by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and water supply by the South Florida Water Management District, there is no regulatory agency to effectively manage the lake's ecosystem and downstream rivers and coastal estuaries. The lack of a comprehensive Lake Okeechobee watershed management plan has resulted in severe degradation of fresh water and marine environments in south Florida.
Insufficient storage and treatment of storm water runoff from Lake Okeechobee and the critical need to provide proper water quality and quantity to the Everglades can only be addressed with the restoration of a flow way in the EAA. A spillway designed and built by the ACOE to provide a cost effective solution to reduce high water pressure on the HHD and protect people and property should be built between the north New River and Miami canals south of Lake Okeechobee. The acquisition of approximately 50,000 acres south of the lake and contiguous with 62,000 acres of publicly owned lands would help to restore the natural conveyance south to the Everglades. The ACOE has already spent $750 million on restoring just 22 miles of the HHD with another 122 miles of dike slated for repair to avoid potential breaches that could jeopardize people and property. The proposed Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Program, at a cost of $16 billion over 30 years, will not have sufficient storage to alleviate the massive releases of excessive polluted water from Lake Okeechobee that is causing adverse impacts to the coastal estuaries on the west and east coast of south Florida.
The only meaningful solution to "getting the water right" is the restoration of a flow way south to the Everglades. The low lying areas in the EAA caused by subsidence of the substrate, due to decades of burning and over drainage of the sugar cane fields, would be ideal as storage reservoirs in a flow-way that would function in the same manner as the chain of lakes in the Kissimmee River Basin. Furthermore, any pooling of water in the absence of gravitational flow to the south can be pumped to the Water Conservation Areas in the same manner that pumps redistribute water for agriculture in the EAA today.
Potential seepage from a flow-way in the EAA can be managed in a variety of different ways including the use of seepage cut off walls and seepage canals to avoid damage to the agricultural fields. A meandering flow-way with wetland vegetation would effectively stabilize the rate of surface water flow to the south and greatly enhance the quality of water in the Everglades. This would also reduce harmful discharge to the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie rivers. The flow-way would function as storm water treatment areas improving the water quality of the region. The infrastructure in the EAA such as pumps, pipes and water conveyance network used in sugar cane production today would work just as effectively in support of a storage flow-way that would provide a desperately needed hydrological connection between Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades. Prior to the establishment of the EAA and encroachment of the sugar cane fields south of Lake Okeechobee, the river of grass that once connected the lake to the Everglades supported a fully functional and viable ecosystem in south Florida. The necessity for greater water storage and increased water treatment point to the importance of a flow-way in the EAA to begin the recovery efforts of our south Florida ecosystem and to ensure a balance between sustainable agriculture and the long term health of our environment, economy and quality of life.
REAL Everglades Restoration can only happen by acknowledging that nature had it right. Although we cannot return the Everglades to what it originally was before man developed the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) and severed the crucial hydrological connection between Lake Okeechobee and the River Of Grass, there are plans and solutions that will bring us close.
A southern flow way would be the ideal solution. Often referred to as Plan 6, there are many variants and proposals that are similar. Read about some of them here: http://cwifl.com/documents/Plan-6
A wonderful, comprehensive vision was laid out this year (2015) by the Everglades Coalition for the Everglades 2015-2025: http://www.evergladescoalition.org/EVCO%202025%20Vision%20for%20the%20Everglades.pdf
Also, here is a video by Everglades Trust that concisely explains Everglades restoration: https://youtu.be/x1n9tlESDeI
For more information about Everglades Restoration, feel free to Contact Us