Excerpt from minutes of TCRPC meeting about Lake Okeechobee’s “gate 308” and “higher volatility weather patterns”.

“He [Martin County Commissioner Ed Fielding] stated he believes that gate 308, which connects Lake Okeechobee to the St. Lucie Estuary, needs to be closed.”

—Excerpt from Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council (TCPRC) meeting in July 2017. Continue reading to learn more about this below, more excerpts from the TCRPC.

Post-Hurricane Irma, now that fears have subsided about a serious breach in the Herbert Hoover Dike, the blog post below from September last year takes on new significance. Martin County commissioners Ed Fielding and Doug Smith are cited (excerpt below) in the draft minutes of the TCRPC meeting held on July 21st .

But first, important information about
“Managing Lake Okeechobee”:

Under its revised 2008 regulation schedule, the [U.S. Army] Corps strives to maintain Lake Okeechobee’s water level between 12.5 feet and 15.5 feet NGVD,* in part to protect the integrity of the aging Herbert Hoover Dike that surrounds the lake. The lake’s water level can rise up to six times faster than water can be discharged. For example, heavy rains from Tropical Storm Isaac in August 2012 raised the lake level by 3 feet in a month.

From the draft minutes at the TCRPC meeting in July 2017 about the “Lake Okeechobee Watershed Restoration Project [WRP] Planning Update” given by Jennifer Leeds, the Section Administrator for the SFWMD† Office of Everglades Policy and CERP‡ program manager, provided an update on the Lake Okeechobee WRP.§

From pp. 6–7 of this update (see links below) given
at the TCRPC is this excerpt from the minutes:

“Commissioner Fielding [Martin County Comm. Ed Fielding] thanked Ms. Leeds for what has been done to date, but he believes it will not provide relief to the estuaries. He stated once the water is in Lake Okeechobee and there is an emergency situation that requires water releases, the water will most likely be sent through the St. Lucie Estuary. He [Fielding] stated he believes that gate 308, which connects Lake Okeechobee to the St. Lucie Estuary, needs to be closed. [emphasis added] He stated the basic problem is the water goes into the lake 6 times faster than it can be released, and the outlets for release are S80, St. Lucie Lock & Dam in Stuart, and S79, W.P. Franklin Lock & Dam near Fort Myers. He concurred with Chairman Smith [Martin County Comm. Doug Smith] that there needs to be communication with Osceola County for the potential to move, store, and clean water to the north. He [Fielding] stated the underlying problem everyone is overlooking is we are going into an era of higher volatility weather patterns and past data cannot be used to predict future scenarios. He indicated he understands the complexities, but stated he feels this is being glossed over to get to a solution he believes is insufficient.”

Look over this agenda item yourself at the TCRPC and read the minutes by using this link, then scroll down to download the “Draft Minutes”.

To learn more about the Herbert Hoover Dike
and the Lloyd’s of London “Emerging
Risks Team Report” use this link:

“Since the construction of the dyke,¶ the land
outside of the dyke has been eroding, particularly
on the south side of the lake.”

“[T]he dyke is no longer being used solely as a
levee to protect the area from flooding when
storms are in the vicinity but also to hold a
permanent reserve of water.”

And lastly. . .

On the question of “$800M in bonds? For a new reservoir ‘which is intended to help’ and ‘potentially reduce’ algae outbreaks?”, click on this link.

Footnote section:**

*NGVD  =  National Geodetic Vertical Datum.
†SFWMD  =  South Florida Water Management District.
‡CERP  =  Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan.
§The Lake Okeechobee WRP is a joint effort between SFWMD and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineeers.
‖The TCRPC meetings are held at the Wolf High Technology Center, Indian River State College (Chastain Campus), located at 2400 SE Salerno Road in city of Stuart.
¶The word “dyke” is the British variant of “dike”. Technically, however, the Herbert Hoover Dike is no longer a dike; Lake Okeechobee is a body of water confined by a wall of earth, clay, other fortifying materials and man-made structures.
**On topic of footnotes, following order of  *, †, ‡, §, ‖, and  ¶, one then begins to “double-up”, for example, **, ††, ‡‡, etc.