Lake Okeechobee and Phosphorous

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Drought conditions in 2006 and 2007 led to record low water levels in Lake Okeechobee. This presented Florida Department of Environmental Protection and South Florida Water Management District with a unique opportunity to remove a foot of accumulated muck and organic material from 1,300 acres of the lake's bottom. More than 1.5 million cubic yards of muck was removed, exposing the lakes natural sandy bottom and providing the opportunity for native plant communities to flourish. © DEP/ Greg Kennedy

Video Transcript

Narrator: All water on earth is ultimately connected. Rainfall that lands on the surface of the earth passes through many different environments. This stormwater runoff soaks into the ground and travels through culverts and ditches picking up containments being carried downstream from every aspect of society. A major challenge for restoration is to minimize stormwater impact within the historic everglades boundaries. Stormwater slowly seeps into lake Okeechobee from many sources. Over time these pollutants gather like a ticking time bomb on the bottom of the lake. When hurricanes and tropical storms pass over the shallow lake they create large standing waves that slosh back and forth from shore to shore. As rain falls and swells increase, a contaminated brew of bottom sediments is re-suspended in the water column. Once the lake levels get to high drastic measures have to be taken to protect people from floodwaters that used to cover the landscape. A dangerous chain of events follows when contaminated water has to be released through waterways to the coastal estuaries that support life beyond our shores. The restoration plan consists of 58 major projects. The goal is to undo unintended damage created by drainage and flood control canals and to return the water back to where it belongs, the Florida Everglades.