Posted on November 9, 2021
A decision on how South Florida’s most fought-over freshwater resource will be managed has been delayed and some fear the pause could put the embattled Lake Worth Lagoon in jeopardy.
That danger was highlighted at a September meeting where U.S. Rep. Brian Mast, R-Palm City, said that Palm Beach County’s request for more water supply means the Lake Worth Lagoon should bear the brunt of harmful discharges.
“You can’t say that you are the entity that wants more water but you don’t want more harm coming from that advocacy,” Mast told the Palm Beach Town Council at its Sept. 14 meeting. “They (Palm Beach County) want their cake and to eat it too and that’s not going to happen.”
The Army Corps of Engineers was expected to announce today how it will handle Lake Okeechobee water levels and discharges over the next decade but said late Friday it has tentatively pushed the final verdict to Nov. 16.
St. Lucie residents upset about potential releases to their estuary
The postponement follows the release of plans last week that raised the ire of St. Lucie Estuary advocates who voiced concerns about the amount of Lake Okeechobee water going to the brackish waterway.
The Lake Worth Lagoon — a 20-mile-long estuary that stretches from North Palm Beach to Boynton Beach — fared well environmentally in the eight proposals unveiled last week, with the Corps acknowledging the waterbody as an estuary instead of just a flood control outlet. Discharges to the lagoon, when necessary, were capped at 300 cubic feet per second (cfs) and would only occur when the St. Lucie Estuary was receiving discharges.
But Mast called the plans a “capricious shift in philosophy” from an original proposal that was highly beneficial to St. Lucie, but did more harm to the Caloosahatchee River and didn’t perform as well with water supply.
Part of the quarrel boils down to which estuary — the St. Lucie, Caloosahatchee or Lake Worth Lagoon — gets nutrient-infused overflow if Lake Okeechobee gets too high.
The situation is complicated by the need for water to irrigate farms south of Lake Okeechobee in the Everglades Agricultural Area, and for cities that rely on lake water during the dry season. That includes the City of Okeechobee and West Palm Beach, which also supplies water for Palm Beach and South Palm Beach.
Okeechobee Mayor Dowling Watford said he’s been criticized and “shot down” in the past for asking for more time to look at the Corps’ plan, so he was happy with the delay. West Palm Beach has also repeatedly asked for more time to review the plans.
Brian Mast to Palm Beach: If water gets released, ‘You are in crosshairs’
Palm Beach County, which had the highest agricultural sales of any county east of the Mississippi in 2018, has asked that water supply be returned to levels promised by the federal government in 2000. The levels were reduced in 2008 when it was feared a higher Lake Okeechobee would breach the Herbert Hoover Dike. Repairs on the dike will be completed next year.
The western edge of Palm Beach — an expensive stretch of multi-million dollar waterfront mansions — sits on the lagoon. In 2016, Lake Okeechobee discharges led to a widespread toxic blue-green algae bloom on the St. Lucie Estuary. Blue-green algae also was present in the Lake Worth lagoon that summer, temporarily shutting down Peanut Island over the Fourth of July weekend.
“If Palm Beach County is saying we want more water on the lake then that finger is going to point to Palm Beach County for the outlet of those discharges and that comes directly to you,” Mast told the Palm Beach Town Council. “You are in the crosshairs.”
Palm Beach Mayor Danielle Moore wrote a letter to the Corps on Oct. 8 advocating for lower lake levels, which also generally benefit Lake Okeechobee’s ecosystem by allowing light to reach submerged vegetation.
“The interests in Palm Beach County as a whole are not necessarily served by the water use agreements for agriculture and yet the agriculture interests have a lot of power,” said Chip Block, chairman of Palm Beach County’s Water Resources Task Force and vice-mayor of Jupiter Inlet Colony. “I don’t think Brian (Mast) is targeting the Lake Worth Lagoon, I think he’s saying, ‘Look, if the lake is going to be too high, the water has to go somewhere’ and he’s there to protect the St. Lucie and Indian River.”
South Florida Water Management District officials said no entity in the EAA has ever exceeded its water allocation.
Mast’s district covers areas in Palm Beach County, including North Palm Beach, Palm Beach Gardens and Jupiter.
Palm Beach County Water Resources Manager Jeremy McBryan said the county hasn’t advocated for higher lake levels but has lobbied for a return to the water supplies promised when the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan was approved 21 years ago.
He was assured Monday that the Lake Worth Lagoon was not going to become a dumping ground for unwanted Lake Okeechobee water but that a new plan may include increased discharges when the lake is over 17 feet.
“We totally appreciate the Corps’ need to lower the lake at these very high stages,” McBryan said.
Kimberly Miller is a veteran journalist for The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA Today Network of Florida. She covers weather, climate and the environment and has a certificate in Weather Forecasting from Penn State. Contact Kim at kmiller@pbpost.com
