Elected officials, organizations call for balanced LOSOM plan
Environmental organizations and community leaders from across Florida — including west, east and south of Lake Okeechobee — are calling on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to seize the opportunity provided by the rewrite of Lake Okeechobee’s regulation schedule to pick a balanced plan that sends more water south and ends the abuse of estuaries on Florida’s east and west coasts.
The Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation reported that the joint announcement was made during a press conference on June 1 in Moore Haven, where a letter addressed to the Army Corps was shared.
“As the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers defines the parameters for a new operational schedule for Lake Okeechobee between now and July 2021, (we) urge you to adopt a more equitable operational plan that strives to send the maximum amount of water to the Everglades, Everglades National Park, and Florida Bay during the dry season and eliminate harmful discharges to the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee estuaries and the Lake Worth Lagoon,” the letter to Jacksonville District Commander Col. Andrew Kelly said. “This water belongs to all Floridians, and optimizing freshwater flows during the dry season will expedite restoration benefits, aid in conservation efforts on federal lands, and protect the largest constituencies and economies in the watershed.”
The Army Corps determines when to discharge water to the east and west of Lake Okeechobee using a document called the Lake Okeechobee Regulation Schedule, or LORS. The SCCF reported that the outdated and harmful regulation schedule is based on data from over a decade ago and causes serious damage to communities on the east and west of the lake through frequent discharges of toxic water.
The Army Corps is currently revising the schedule, now called the Lake Okeechobee System Operating Manual or LOSOM. It has narrowed down the selection to five plans, referred to as Alternatives AA through EE, and is expected to select the final plan in July. It will be in effect for about the next decade.
According to the SCCF, the letter written to Kelly calls on the Army Corps to work with the state to adopt an improved version of Plan CC that includes the following goals:
– Adjust the modeling for Plan CC to include an environmental demand for water in the Everglades so that water will be sent south in all operational bands from Lake Okeechobee to the Everglades and increase dry season flows above volumes provided by LORS from 2008.
– Eliminate regulatory releases to the St. Lucie.
– Eliminate harmful regulatory releases to the Caloosahatchee while maintaining beneficial dry season releases, targeting RECOVER restoration flows of 750-2,100 cubic feet per second at the W.P. Franklin Lock and Dam (S-79) whenever possible.
– Measure all Caloosahatchee flows at the S-79 and reduce “up to” discharges in the upper bands — Zone B and Zone C — to no more than 4,500 cubic feet per second.
– Minimize regulatory releases to the Lake Worth Lagoon.
– Add operational flexibility to avoid discharge to the estuaries when cyanotoxin levels exceed the Environmental Protection Agency’s established guidelines for recreational exposure.
Organizations and community leaders signing the letter included U.S. Reps. Brian Mast and Byron Donalds, Captains For Clean Water, The Everglades Foundation, SCCF, Friends of the Everglades, Conservancy of Southwest Florida, Florida Oceanographic Society and Florida Bay Forever.
To read the letter, visit http://www.sccf.org/downloadable-files/60b64a2dfe0e2ff44fe85777.pdf.