By Treasure Coast Newspapers Editorial Board
September 21, 2017
TC Palm
Hurricane Irma wasn’t initially expected to be much of a rainmaker. But like many other predictions about the storm, that forecast turned out to be wrong.
The storm dumped more than 21 inches on parts of Fort Pierce and deluged other parts of Florida, many of them upstream of Lake Okeechobee. Now all that water is draining into the lake, rapidly increasing its overall level.
To counter this, the Army Corps of Engineers, which manages the Herbert Hoover Dike around the lake, has opened the floodgates: billions of gallons of water per day now is being discharged into the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers.
But curiously — maddeningly — not all of the water triggering that rise in the lake level came from the north.
To continue reading: http://www.tcpalm.com/story/opinion/editorials/2017/09/21/once-again-treasure-coastlake-o-discharges-sediment-soup-and-back-pumping-remind-us-need-fix-our-vie/681038001/