Lake Okeechobee Regulation Schedule

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville District, contractors work to complete construction on culvert C-12A near Pahokee, Fla., on Lake Okeechobee as part of Herbert Hoover Dike rehabilitation. Residents living south of the dike are protected by the 143-mile long earthen dam. Rehabilitation of the 80-year-old structure includes the replacement of 28 culverts with modern construction materials and techniques. Photo: Jim Yocum

Lake Okeechobee Regulation Schedule changes lead to positive outcome for Floridians Jim Yocum

Lake Okeechobee is more than just the second largest lake entirely inside the United States. It’s the heart of a vast and immensely complex water system that makes it possible for Florida to support millions of residents in South Florida. It also sustains billions of dollars in agriculture, recreational fishing that brings tourists from around the world, and the water that is the lifeblood of some of the most diverse and vital ecosystems in the world. The lake is the central hub for the whole system, and it relies on a 143-mile long earthen dam completed in 1937 and named after our 31st president – the Herbert Hoover Dike. Since 2008, the district has managed water on the lake using the Lake Okeechobee Regulation Schedule (LORS), a document that seeks to meet the Congressional purposes of the lake to support flood control, water supply, navigation, recreation, and preservation of fish and wildlife resources. Because of the age and construction of the Herbert Hoover Dike, the Corps is limited in how much water the lake can hold. With hurricanes, tropical storms, or even just higher than normal rains, the lake can rise quickly enough to put the dike and all those who live south of the lake at risk, so LORS provides the district with a tool to help make decisions. In 2016 and 2018, the district water managers were faced with little choice when high water levels

coincided with harmful algal blooms on the lake, forcing the release of algae-laden water to the estuaries east and west of the lake to protect the dike and the millions living south of the lake. Col. Andrew Kelly, district commander, who arrived in Jacksonville around that time, said he saw and heard the impact releases from the lake were having on the coastal communities around the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee estuaries. He read the reports about the ecological impacts several years of high water had on the health of the lake. “The past year, we did things a little differently,” he said. “We are operating under LORS. Over the last dry season, we executed operational flexibility under LORS. To positively affect the ecosystem of the estuaries and the lake itself, we changed the timing of water releases to bring the lake down.” Over several months in the dry season, when the district would usually keep water in the lake, instead, the Corps released water to the estuaries and lowered the lake level for the first time in several years.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville District, contractors use a clamshell to prep a trench for a hydromill to dig and mix the concrete used for the new cutoff wall on the Herbert Hoover Dike near South Bay, Fla. Photo: Jim Yocum “That allowed the submerged aquatic vegetation to grow, and we were able to heal a little bit after some of the devastation of Hurricane Irma,” Kelly said. “We could stop releases to the St. Lucie estuary and continue to feed the Caloosahatchee estuary the way they needed us to (for salinity control). Mother Nature cooperated – it was mostly statistically normal this year.” While all the data is not in yet, Kelly said the initial reports look promising, that the strategy worked to help the lake recover. He said the district was “using a common-sense approach, allowing us to manage the system making use of what we know over the past few years. Our schedules don’t have memories. They look at very discreet times, and they say ‘if this, then this.’ But they don’t know what happened last year. They don’t know what happened the year before.” While using flexibility in LORS worked for 2019, Kelly said improvements to the Herbert Hoover Dike itself are going to give the Corps an opportunity that it will not waste. A dam safety modification report in 2016 gave the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville District, the final plans needed to complete the rehabilitation of the Herbert Hoover Dike that has protected South Florida for 80 years. So far, the district has completed 21.4 miles of cutoff wall, replaced 17 culverts, and removed four that were no longer needed. By 2022, the finished project will include a total of 28 culverts and 56 miles of cutoff wall, along with additional armoring on structures and bridges along the dike. When the dike rehabilitation finishes in 2022, the district will complete a new dam safety report that will provide a new risk assessment to determine what flexibility exists in how water is managed. That, along with other projects in the system, will allow the district to completely revise how it manages water using the Lake Okeechobee System Operating Manual (LOSOM). “LOSOM is not just a name change. It is literally throwing out the old book and starting new,” Kelly said. “We are taking our time to do it effectively because it is going to marry up perfectly with the HHD completion. The HHD construction will be complete in 2022; I’ll have a dam safety analysis

that says how safe the dike is at what level, and what our parameters are, so we can immediately apply the new schedule.” Partners and stakeholders have expressed excitement about the completion of the rehabilitation and the LOSOM project as well. Rep. Brian Mast, whose 18th District includes areas around the St. Lucie estuary that saw effects of water releases during harmful algal blooms, told a crowd at an event in Stuart how important it is for everyone to be part of the decision-making process for Lake Okeechobee water management designs in LOSOM. “The dike is one step closer to being repaired, the de-channelization (of the Kissimmee) is one step closer to being done,” Mast said. “The change in management style is moving in a direction that the scales are more equally balanced between recognizing the risks on the coast and the risks of water supply and recreation, irrigation, navigation, and flood control, and all of those concerns that the Corps of Engineers have … all of those things are being taken into consideration.” Florida State Sen. Gayle Harrell from Florida’s District 25, seemed to agree. “The dike is going to be finished in the next two years. C-44 (a reservoir and stormwater treatment area that will hold and clean water) is on the cusp of being finished,” Harrell said. “We are getting there. And now, with the new regulation schedule coming into effect, and some flexibility, we are making huge progress.” Kelly said the key to LOSOM is striking a balance between the competing purposes of lake water management and listening and accounting for all the people who are affected by decisions to release or not release water. “That effort is going on between now and 2022,” Kelly said. “We started by asking everyone what they cared most about. We even went as far south as the Keys. They reminded us that all of this connects to Florida Bay. We realize this is the entire system we are talking about here.” Harrell said that water means more in Florida than in many places because it is so much a part of the way of life for the state, so getting the balance right and looking at impacts throughout the entire system is critical for the state. “This is who we are. This is the Treasure Coast, and our waterways are our treasures. It defines us. It’s who we are. It’s our environment, and it’s our economy.” U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville District, contractors work to complete construction on culvert C-12A on Lake Okeechobee near Pahokee, Fla., as part of Herbert Hoover Dike rehabilitation. Residents living south of the dike are protected by the 143-mile long earthen dam completed in 1937 and named after the 31st president. Rehabilitation of the 80-year-old structure includes the replacement of 28 culverts with modern construction materials and techniques. Photo: Jim Yocum

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville District, contractors work to complete construction on culvert C-12A on Lake Okeechobee near Pahokee, Fla., as part of Herbert Hoover Dike rehabilitation. Residents living south of the dike are protected by the 143-mile long earthen dam completed in 1937 and named after the 31st president. Rehabilitation of the 80-year-old structure includes the replacement of 28 culverts with modern construction materials and techniques. Photo: Jim Yocum