Slideshow: Difficulties in sending Lake Okeechobee water south

In today's Palm Beach Post is a must watch slideshow by the South Florida Water Management District.

This slideshow is part of an article written by Christine Stapleton. From the article:

     South Florida Water Management District officials made no commitments to several dozen environmental activists who begged them Thursday to buy land south of Lake Okeechobee for Everglades restoration, and for the first time they laid out the hurdles and risks they face in making such a buy.
     “It’s not as simple as buying land and moving water south,” said district board member James Moran. “To come in here and lecture us — just buy the land and move water south —if it was that simple it would have been done already.”

[and...]

     As the meeting got underway on Thursday, the Corps announced it was increasing releases from the lake into the estuary and river because recent rains have pushed the lake level to 14.81 — about a foot higher than it was at this time last year.

An "Emerging Risks Team Report" by Lloyd's of London is very pessimistic about the future of the Herbert Hoover Dike. The report is only 22 pages and is an alarming read.

Here is an excerpt from the Lloyd's of London report:

A report was commissioned by the South Florida Water Management District in 2006 to review the stability and safety of the Herbert Hoover Dike around Lake Okeechobee. 

Report concludes “The current condition of Herbert Hoover poses a grave and imminent danger… … [The dyke] needs to be fixed. We can only add that it needs to be fixed now, and it needs to be fixed right. We firmly believe that the region’s future depends on it.”