A: The solution is called Everglades restoration, as approved by Congress in the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) in 2000. Lake Okeechobee, The Everglades & South Florida’s Water Debate. The Everglades Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA), is an approximately 1,160 square-mile-area south of Lake Okeechobee of highly productive agricultural land. Congress budgets about $250 million to $300 million for Everglades restoration, supported by Trump. After 20 years, progress on the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan is starting to yield results By U.S. Stephen Davis, Everglades … 07/21/18. Somewhere in the future, I'm hopeful Everglades restoration will return more water south to where it once flowed naturally. “Providing treatment wetlands to achieve water quality goals in the Florida Everglades is closer to true ‘restoration;’ creation of large, difficult-to-manage deep reservoirs is not,” Mitsch writes in his journal article. The system begins near Orlando with the Kissimmee River, which discharges into the vast but shallow Lake Okeechobee. Located in South Florida, they are a vital and sensitive ecosystem. The shallow but massive lake is 730 square miles, the second largest freshwater lake within the continental United States. But the current Everglades, 50 percent of its original size and disconnected from Lake Okeechobee, is not. Scenes from the More Haven and Ortona Locks on the Caloosahatchee River captured Friday afternoon, October 16. Part of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP), the Lake Okeechobee Watershed Restoration Project is a planning effort being conducted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the South Florida Water Management District to identify opportunities to improve the quantity, timing and distribution of flows into the 730-square-mile lake. Scientists discovered, however, that the scale was too vast. Twenty years ago, the original Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan envisioned more than 300 underground aquifer storage recovery (ASR) wells north of Lake Okeechobee. Failure to realize effective measures to restore LO will adversely affect or delay … To support development, a booming population and agricultural industry in the 20th century, the natural flow of the Everglades south from Lake Okeechobee was rerouted to the east and west into the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee estuaries, and a massive system of canals, levees and locks was built throughout South … Lake Okeechobee most likely will experience more blue-green algae blooms this summer, but steps being taken now may keep them from creating a disaster across South Florida like last year. ET May 20, 2020 CLOSEScott Martin (Photo: Special to The Lake Okeechobee is my home. The only meaningful solution to "getting the water right" is the restoration … The reservoir is being built to reduce discharges from Lake Okeechobee into the Caloosahatchee River and St. Lucie River estuaries that spawn blue-green algae blooms. The Lake Okeechobee System Operating Manual (LOSOM) is being developed by the Army Corps of Engineers and will impact the health of these waters for years to come. Restoration projects are underway to … The 80 ASR wells in the Lake Okeechobee Watershed Restoration … At the heart of the Everglades is Lake Okeechobee. Lake Okeechobee and Everglades Restoration The quality of our Southwest Florida waterways, estuaries and marshes is the driving force behind our economy and why most of us have chosen to live here. Lake Okeechobee’s water levels influence ecological conditions in the Everglades, the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee estuaries, Florida Bay and the lake … The cities that surr Op-Ed Scott Martin, Special to The News-Press Published 6:00 a.m. Congress approved last summer the Water Resources Development Act of 2020, which provides authority for the U.S. Army Corps of … Allie Preston 2020-11-12T09:02:37-05:00 November 10th, 2020 | Action Alerts, All Posts, Everglades Restoration, Lake Okeechobee, LOSOM | Read More Toxic Discharge Update: More Haven and Ortona Locks 10-16-20. Sending water south of Lake Okeechobee. Learn more about the Everglades’ restoration. Lake Okeechobee is a shallow impounded lake at the center of the greater Everglades that provides a myriad of services critical to South Florida ().It is the largest freshwater lake in the southeastern United States, with a surface area of 730 square miles (mi 2) and a volume in excess of 4 million … CERP is a framework for restoring, protecting and preserving the greater Everglades ecosystem (Orlando to the Florida Keys). A promise made 20 years ago to get the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan approved guarantees water to users. LOWRP includes a wetlands attenuation feature (WAF), restoration of some wetlands along the Kissimmee River and 80 ASR wells. Lake Okeechobee is at the center of South Florida's regional water management system. The Lake Okeechobee Watershed Restoration Plan (LOWRP) is the CERP component to store water north of the lake. The goal? The aquifer couldn’t hold all those wells. Ron DeSantis announces recurring funding to Everglades restoration, increase in DEP fines. The original Everglades ecosystem, due to its massive size and connection with Lake Okeechobee, was better equipped to deal with drought conditions. The Republican governor was there to watch Clinton, a Democrat, sign into law a bipartisan bill, the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Program, aka “CERP,” hailed as the largest environmental restoration project in the planet’s history. The Lake Okeechobee wa-tershed and Everglades have far-ranging impact on the entire State of Florida and the country, … The Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) Reservoir will add $1.3 billion to the total, and the Lake Okeechobee Watershed Project is estimated to add another $1.4 billion. I would rather be benefits from a healthy Everglades discovered, however, that the scale too... Approved guarantees water to users diverse wetlands in the Comprehensive Everglades restoration, as approved by Congress the... 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