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Gov. Scott to Corps: Relieve Flooding, Flow Lake 'O' Water South

Gov. Rick Scott "issued orders" to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that the Corps should take immediate action to relieve the flooding, slow down the discharges from Lake Okeechobee and move more water south to Everglades National Park.

Rick ScottScott's letter dated Thursday reads in part, "Moving water south out of the Water Conservation Areas will prevent the die-off of wildlife whose habitat is currently flooded due to the heavy rainfall and also allow us to move more water from Lake Okeechobee south, relieving pressure from discharges to the (St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee) estuaries."

Scott wants the Corps to raise the level of the L-29 canal to more than 8 feet so water from a water conservation area west of Broward and Miami-Dade counties can go into the Everglades National Park.

At the same time, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission issued more orders they say will allow the Corps to move more water south through Shark River Slough to ease the effects of flooding in South Florida. Click HERE to see the orders.

Gov. Rick Scott "issued orders" to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that the Corps should take immediate action to relieve the flooding, slow down the discharges from Lake Okeechobee and move more water south to Everglades National Park.

Scott's letter dated Thursday reads in part, "Moving water south out of the Water Conservation Areas will prevent the die-off of wildlife whose habitat is currently flooded due to the heavy rainfall and also allow us to move more water from Lake Okeechobee south, relieving pressure from discharges to the (St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee) estuaries."

Scott wants the Corps to raise the level of the L-29 canal to more than 8 feet so water from a water conservation area west of Broward and Miami-Dade counties can go into the Everglades National Park.

At the same time, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission issued more orders they say will allow the Corps to move more water south through Shark River Slough to ease the effects of flooding in South Florida. Click HERE to see the orders.

The question remains: Will the Corps comply? Will complying violate the spirit if not the letter of a 20-year-old, clean-water lawsuit brought by the Miccosukee Tribe? 

According to the court case, water managers can’t move water under the Tamiami Bridge to the park because phosphorous limits are above 10 ppb -- the limit approved by a federal judge. The Miccosukee have said they won't budge on the 10 ppb, insisting that number be met.

In fact, the Corps doesn't have to follow state directives, and by federal regulation,  schedules cannot. But the governor did write to Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works Jo-Ellen Darcy requesting a federal deviation of schedule to allow water to flow through water catchment area 3, down the L-29 and out Shark River Slough.

What that will do is get the WCA lower to protect animals and tree islands. The governor's hope is, once the canals clear out WCA water, the SFWMD will get an emergency permit from DEP to bypass the stormwater treatment areas and send lake water south.

Relief for the estuaries likely will be slow in coming, particularly if it stays wet. March is the transition month in the El Niño cycle.

Last month was the rainiest January on record for the 16 counties under the South Florida Water Management District. Lake Okeechobee and all of the district's water storage areas were full, forcing the district to engage its entire flood-protection system -- a process that included discharging billions of gallons of lake water into the estuaries.

 

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The federal Clean Water Act does not apply to excessive rainfall events.

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