State: Lake Okeechobee water to be sent south to Everglades

Florida is doing something many said couldn't be done: Releasing water from Lake Okeechobee to Everglades National Park in order to alleviate record flooding conditions during the dry season.

The releases, allowed under emergency conditions, will allow water south of the lake to flow toward the park, which should mean less water flowing through the Caloosahatchee River and its estuary. Lake Okeechobee water, in turn, can be sent south where it's needed the most.

"It's a very serious condition," said Ron Bergeron, a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commissioner who spent several days meeting with various agencies and Gov. Rick Scott. "I've never seen this kind of water in the dry season in my life."

The water does pass through a reservoir that helps clean it of nutrients, and some of the water is from rainfall anyway, so it's not as polluted.

Moving water on an emergency basis has been done before, but those operations were conducted in the wake of tropical storms or hurricanes. This is the first time floods and water quality issues like these have been experienced in the dry season.

John Campbell with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said it's unknown if the releases would start Monday night or later in the week.

Florida DEP, FWC tell feds to release Lake O water south

It's unclear how much water will be sent to the park, but Bergeron said the process will include raising canal levels south of the lake in 2-inch stages — with 1 foot above maximum normal levels allowed.

"(Those improvements) were coming online within a year that would allow another six inches (of water to be held in delivery canals)," Berergon said. "Then the next step would allow another six inches."

Bergeron said the deal only happened because of Gov. Scott's determination.

"I'm pretty pushy," he said, "but not as much as him."

Agencies like the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, the South Florida Water Management District and others agreed to speed up a project aimed at restoring historic flows.

Parts of Everglades National Park have been so dry in past years that alligators have died from a lack of water. These releases will send water to some of those barren areas and should help lower harmful salinity levels in Florida Bay.

The water control features that will allow these releases, which can last up to 90 days under the current agreement, were already under construction.

"It's going to go where it used to go, before man stopped it," Bergeron said.

An FWC letter sent Friday details some of the concerns.

"Immediate action is necessary to deviate from permitted water management practices in order to move significant volumes of flood water out of Water Conservation Areas, and subsequently provide opportunities to move more water south out of Lake Okeechobee relieving pressure on the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie estuaries," the declaration reads.

Several landowners south of the Tamiami Trail signed off on the agreement as well, saying they wouldn't file lawsuits against the agencies involved with the operation.

Much of the flooded lands are on or near the Miccosukee reservation.

The Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida says some burial grounds and historic villages used by indigenous people are flooded, and tribe member Houston Cypress said the releases will allow some of that water to flow off the landscape.

The tribe agreed to the water management actions as well.

"This deviation is a necessary action, or the effects could be ecologically devastating to tribal lands," Cypress said. "The (drainage) canals are at their limits."

Mayors seek action on Lake O water release

Fort Myers Mayor Randy Henderson said some local fishermen have come to him saying the Lake O releases have negatively impacted their livelihood.

Clients from northern states have cancelled fishing trips due to what they have seen on the news, and Henderson called a press conference Monday to give those people a stage to share their stories.

On sending the water south, Henderson said he knows there is controversy surrounding Scott’s plan, but he isn’t fully aware of everything involved yet.

Critics of water management practices say the agencies should have been better prepared for this event, especially because federal meteorologists have predicted El Nino rains for months now.

Record rains in January dumped nearly a foot of the wet stuff on the 16-county region in the South Florida Water Management District, which basically covers the historic Everglades. Stormwater runoff from lands north and south of the river and Lake Okeechobee discharges turned coastal waters brown, close to black, in some areas over the past several weeks.

Lake O water release into Caloosahatchee at its max

The Corps is in the middle of a $1.5 billion dike project aimed at shoring up the integrity of culverts and other outlets — the places most vulnerable to a breach.

The Corps keeps lake levels at 12.5 to 15.5 feet above sea level. The lake has been kept higher in past decades, but water levels of 17 or 18 feet can destroy vegetation in the lake and kill the fishery. Higher water levels also mean more pressure on the dike. More pressure, in turn, leads to seepage, leaks, and, eventually, a breach.

Connect with this reporter: ChadGillisNP on Twitter.