Maggy Hurchalla is a Board Advisor to The Guardians of Martin County
Published by the Palm Beach Post
A recent series of hearings on how to manage Lake Okeechobee water levels felt like an argument between opponents at opposite ends of a camel.
Maggy Hurchalla
Each claimed that it is their end that is most important.
Folks from close to the lake and from Palm Beach County insisted that low Lake levels are killing Lake O, and it is all the fault of the coastal elite who want to destroy the poor people who work for the sugar companies.
Folks from the coastal estuaries claimed that high Lake O levels were killing the lake and causing discharges to the coast full of toxic algae that was making people sick.
They are both missing the point. It’s the camel’s hump that’s most important. It is what is between the extremes that defines the problem.
When Lake O gets over 16 feet it starts drowning the submerged vegetation. We went past 16 feet in six of the past seven years, and Irma took it to 17 feet — good-bye submerged vegetation. When the natural stuff dies it quits cleaning the water, and we lose an ally in controlling the nutrient soup that feeds the toxic algae blooms. We lost about as many acres of cleansing plants in the lake as we have built in storm water treatment areas, for a billion dollars.
When Lake O gets below 10.5 feet, the opposite thing starts happening: the marsh grasses are drying and dying. Bird, fish and alligator nesting all but stop.
A drought once every 10 years can help the lake by solidifying and oxidizing the loose bottom muck. More than that is damaging.
What happens in the middle is how you avoid those extremes.
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