Posted on 04/10/2007 4:24:52 PM PDT by blam
Lake Okeechobee approaching historic low
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., April 10 (UPI) -- Lake Okeechobee, the source of water for the Florida Everglades, is at its lowest April level since measurements have been made.
If the drought in South Florida continues, water managers expect the lake level to drop below 8.97 feet, the all-time low recorded in May 2001, The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported. On Monday, the lake was at 10.09 feet, the Army Corps of Engineers said.
Okeechobee gathers the waters from the Kissimmee River Basin in central Florida and spills them into the River of Grass, the wide, shallow, slow-moving stream that used to flow unimpeded to Florida Bay. The lake is so low that gravity is no longer spilling water into the irrigation canals in the agricultural area south of Okeechobee.
Jesus Rodriguez, a spokesman for the South Florida Water Management District, said that the area cannot depend on Okeechobee for drinking water at its current level.
In March, watering in the Everglades water management area was restricted to three times a week. More stringent limits on water use could be imposed this week.
-PJ
Not good.
Would a hurricane help?
No, but three of them might.
(You recall a few years back when three of them crossed paths over the same town there.)
“How much of this is related to the drought, and how much is because of increased population growth drawing off more water than ever before?”
-PJ
Good question. Florida`s increasing population isn`t helping matters.
http://www.cet.edu/ete/modules/everglades/FEeverglades3a.html
I bet Roland Martin is driving his Jeep to his favorite holes rather than the Ranger.
I’m sure AlGore would say “It’s those accursed SUV’s, er, getting their huge radiators filled!”
I’m ignoring the water restrictions, but it’s OK....I buy hydro-offsets from Algore.
If they’re running out of water, then they evidently ain’t charging enough for it.
As soon as it gets hot, the rain clouds build over the Atlantic Ocean and it will rain every day about 4:00 pm over the lake.
I have lived in Florida for almost twenty years.
In six months the news articles will be about how the lake is about to flood the surrounding area.
Minorities, children, women hit the hardest
We're having another dry winter/spring here in Mobile. It's been dry since Katrina.
As someone who moved to the Northeast (Maine) from the deep South, one of the things I miss most are the afternoon and evening thundershowers. Always an adventure to be caught out and then 30 minutes later it’s over as if nothing happened.
sigh.
Did I hear correctly (granted a state away) that part of the problem is that they drained off some of the lake in anticipation of the bad 2006 hurricane season so we would not have a “Katrina” event in Belle Meade, or other parts of south Florida?
I’ed say its time to knock down all the high rise condo’s
So do the people from Maine accept a toothless, barefoot, beer swilling, NASCAR loving, 5th grade education, married your second cousin, pickup truck driving redneck?
< / sarc >
I live in the middle of Polk County where Charley, Frances and Jeanne crossed paths in 2004. We are just now recovering economically. Charley hit us on Friday, Aug. 13 and FEMA had the largest emergency airlift in US history underway the next day. Pics You don't hear us complaining after three direct hits in 6 weeks. We picked ourselves up by the bootstraps and started clearing debris and caring for our neighbors. I never took a dime from FEMA but gave plenty to my elderly neighbors.
Time to outlaw underground sprinkler systems, automatic carwashes, swamp coolers(although they don’t have these in humid places), and possibly backyard swimming pools.
It always amazed me why they mandate those stupid low volume toilets when people run their sprinklers all night long. IDIOCY!
The hurricanes sucked it dry.
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