By the TC Palm Editorial Board
September 1, 2016
TC Palm
The Army Corps of
Engineers is in no hurry to revise its water regulation schedule for Lake Okeechobee.
Though more than $870 million has been spent on strengthening the dike since 2001, corps officials say they won’t know if the lake can hold more water until work on the south side of the dike is completed, which is scheduled for 2025.
Why does that matter? Holding more water in Lake O would help reduce (but not eliminate) the need for harmful discharges to the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee estuaries.
Clearly, protecting the estuaries — both east and west of the lake — from destructive discharges of freshwater is low on the corps’ priority list.
In August, the corps awarded a $16.8 million contract to replace another water control structure within the Herbert Hoover Dike. There are 32 federally owned water control structures in the dam that provide irrigation and drainage to landowners in the area. This latest contract brings the number of such structures — in various phases of replacement — to 21, according to a media release from the corps.
And there’s a long way to go.
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