Lake Okeechobee at record low from drought; billions of gallons of water drained after hurricanes.

[madfloridian]

Lake Okeechobee at record low from drought; billions of water drained after hurricanes.

Lake Okeechobee releases stir up regrets as drought lasts

Nineteen months ago, saddled with drowning marshes, a weakened dike and a record-breaking hurricane season, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers got to work on an urgent task: dumping billions of gallons of water from Lake Okeechobee. At the time, it didn't just seem reasonable; it seemed necessary.

Now South Florida water managers see that point in late October 2005 as a much different milestone: the start of a crippling drought.

..."Now that people cannot water their lawns more than once a week, farmers and other critics call last year's lake dumping a major blunder, and even some board members of the South Florida Water Management District have tried to distance themselves from the decision.

I thought about this lake when we got the tropical storm this week-end. I think they got some rain. I knew we did in Central Florida, several inches. I have only seen Lake Okeechobee once up close...it is so big it boggles the mind. These pictures are moving.



Howard Kleman walks up the ramp of what was once a floating dock behind
Slim's Fish Camp on Torry Island in Belle Glade at the southern tip of Lake Okeechobee.(Scott Fisher, Sun-Sentinel)May 30, 2007

Lake Okeechobee drops to record low

Lake Okeechobee dipped to its all-time low on Thursday, worsening the strain on South Florida's primary backup water supply. How low it will go depends on how soon the summer rainy season begins its cycle of daily showers.

"For the first time, the entire system from Orlando to Key West is in a drought," said Carole Ann Wehle, executive director of the South Florida Water Management District. "Because Lake Okeechobee is so low ... their safety net is gone."

The lake on Thursday dropped to 8.94 feet above sea level.

That was 4 feet below normal and just under the previous low-water mark of 8.97 feet, set in May 2001 and tied on Wednesday.

Another picture from that article, from the picture gallery there.



This boat launch on Torry Island in Belle Glade at the southern tip of Lake Okeechobee has been rendered useless by the low water level. The Lake is on the brink of its lowest levels ever.
(Scott Fisher, Sun-Sentinel)
May 30, 2007

There are 3 videos at the Sun Sentinel site which I found fascinating.

They are on the right hand side of the article.

VIDEO: Truckloads of muck scraped from Lake O's lakebed

VIDEO: Record low levels for Lake Okeechobee

FILE VIDEO: Lake Okeechobee hits record low water levels in 2001

And from another article I found this picture.


The parched, cracked earth photo is evidence of several years of below
average rainfall, and the demand from cities and farms which resulted in
month after month of restrictions on irrigation and water use. The periodic
reoccurrence of low rainfall for several years in a row (early 60s, early
70s, late 80s) is the ultimate stress for the water management system.
http://sofia.usgs.gov/publications/posters/challenge/


That last picture is from the USGS website with a lot of water management info.

[JCMach1]

1. Army Corps are idiots: they were RELEASING millions of gallons of water

from the lake (not naturally) but from the flood canals last Summer. I made a trip to Sanibel Island for me and my family a swim in a foetid swamp. God knows what it did to the estuary.

Flooding is part of the natural process in S. Florida... So is drought. If these morons would leave things alone, nature might get it correct.

[madfloridian]

10. JC, where did they send the water in the end...

I had not been aware of it. Did it all just end up in the Everglades, or the ocean?

Swiftmud can't keep its hands off things they should leave alone.

Did you read about the lake in a city that was drained by sinkholes twice? Well, I hear there may be a fight about getting permission from Swiftmud to refill it from the aquifer.

Lake drained twice by sinkhole should NOT refill from Florida aquifer.

[Edweird]

2. Sfwmd & army corps must have memories shorter than their fingernails.

This isn't the first or even second time this has happened. And every time it does all we hear is "Dang! We shouldna' done that. Well, at least we learned our lesson." Until these so called scientists do it AGAIN. Do they ever write anything down? Maybe a post-it note somewhere would do the trick. They should leave well enough alone.

[SoCalDem]

3. "Science" these days, is done by political appointees

The golfcourse owners, mega-developers want less water 'flooding' their ill-advised ventures? drain the lake!

There's HUGE money in "water-management"..and they all know it.

[Uben]

4. It'll come back

We waited through a two year drought for our lake to fill back up. It seemed it would never happen, but it is now full again.

[Greyskye]

7. Yep.

This is, after all, predicted to be an 'active huricane season'.

[madfloridian]

8. And Swiftmud in its wisdom will drain it again when it gets too high.

It was at a low in 2001, then at a high in 2005...they drained it and it is record low now.

[ChiciB1]

9. We Got Some Rain This Past Week-End, BUT NOT ENOUGH!

and most certainly NOT ENOUGH for to raise the tide in ANY lake in Florida!

My mother-in-law has a place in Hernando right on the Psala Apopka River and you can almost walk across to the homes on the other side right now. And that's further north than where I live and they have gotten more rain than us. They are having a REAL problem with alligators now.

My husband goes up there with our chocolate labrador so she can swim, but it's impossible right now. Alligators EAT dogs! He says he's going to take a 22 rifle up there to kill a few, I SAY NO YOU'RE not!!

About 5 years ago we had a bad drought here in Florida and from what I've seen, not until last year when we got rain did we begin to have a sigh of relief!!

I can recall when I moved here how we used to have rain almost daily... an afternoon shower that watered the plants and kept us GREEN, this IS Florida after all. Then it would stop and we could go to the beach an watch a sunset. These days you walk across a lawn and it crunches under your feet.

Yeppers, Tropical Florida! NOT!! We need some serious, serious rain! They screwed with the St. Johns river quite some time back and messed thing up too! Nature is nature and you know what they say... You Shouldn't Fool With Mother Nature!!!

[madfloridian]

11. Are you getting rain today? Looks like S. Florida is getting some rain.

We just had a little here.

[madfloridian]

5. NASA image of the day...fires on Okeechobee's lake bottom.

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=24388

"The extreme drought in Florida is taking its toll on the level of the state’s largest lake.
As water levels in Lake Okeechobee drop, marshy areas along the shore are drying out and becoming flammable.

This cloud-dotted image of the lake on May 30, 2007, was captured by the MODIS on NASA’s Aqua satellite. Using not only visible light, but also shortwave and near-infrared, the image highlights burned areas (brick red) and areas where there was likely open flame (bright pink glows). Unburned vegetation is bright green, water is dark blue, and clouds are light blue and white. Smoke is translucent blue. Places where the MODIS detected active fire are outlined in red. (The absence of a fire-detection outline around some of the bright pink areas may be because clouds or smoke interfered with the automatic fire-detection process)."

Image at the link.

[Hissyspit]

6. "History shows again and again, how nature points up the folly of men."

- Blue Oyster Cult "Godzilla"