Lake Okechobee is in trouble…the Everglades is critically injured…the Kissimmee River flood control plan was (and is) a disaster (Which we are now trying to correct by restoring most of the original channel.) and now the St Johns River is in line for our next catastrophe… Surface Water Withdrawal.
I’m sure that the ‘Science of the Day’ supported sucking water out of Lake Okechobee to supply the surrounding communities and Miami with water… I’m also sure that the Sugar interests in south Florida ‘Scientifically’ justified sucking additional water from the Lake…
The Kissimmee River flood control plan was also supported by ‘Science’ but straightening the channel has dried up wetlands that replenish our aquifer and had numerous other negative environmental side effects. We are now trying to undo the damage by restoring most of the original river channel… We will see how that works out.
We have a giant canal system in south Florida engineered to divert water and that has had a disasterous effect on the Everglades. You know what …I’ll bet that project was supported by volumes of ‘Scientific Data’ that said it would cause no harm…
The latest “Victim to Science” is the St Johns River…on April 13, 2009 the St Johns River Water Management District board of governors voted 5 to 4 to issue a permit for Seminole County Utilities to suck up 5.5 million gallons of water per day to support their reclaimed water system…In other words this water will be used to water their lawns… How stupid is that?
In just a few short years we will go from being the Bass Capital of the World to some sort of salt water fish that has already made its way 100 miles inland. The Bass population has been hit hard by this intrusion of salt water and only “Science” will tell the tale.
This is the latest example (I’m sure there are more to come) of how bad Florida is at water management!
Dennis Harvin, Conservation Director, Florida Bass Federation, Inc
Jim Fowler, President, Florida Bass Federation, Inc
