Everglades flooding risk could send more water pollution to Lake Okeechobee – Sun Sentinel.
At the start of the summer rainy season, western Broward and Miami-Dade counties are already filling up with too much water too fast.
That has triggered extra pumping to save swamped wildlife and to also head off future risks for western communities.
The emergency pumping is moving water north through Palm Beach County and into Lake Okeechobee — the opposite direction that South Florida’s water supply is supposed to flow.
To send more water south — where it once naturally flowed — the state is asking for federal permission to pump water into drier portions of Everglades National Park and then out into Florida Bay.
“It’s an emergency in the Everglades,” said Ron Bergeron, commissioner for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
“If we don’t pull this trigger, there may be nothing left to save.” Heavy rains this month have boosted water levels about 2 to 3 feet higher than usual in portions of the Everglades that stretch through western Broward and Miami-Dade counties.
To avoid draining more water into western Broward, the state for the first time is pumping water from a reservoir in southwestern Palm Beach County north into Lake Okeechobee.
When the lake rises, its water gets drained to the east and west — spreading pollution threats to coastal waters.
That lake draining can fuel toxic algae blooms that make coastal waterways unsafe for fishing and swimming.