Weekend rains in South Florida get water flowing back into Lake...

For the first time in eight months, water on Tuesday resumed flowing from the Kissimmee River into Lake Okeechobee - slowly starting to replenish South Florida's primary backup water supply.

[ansa]

I think this story is a little twisted. The engineers drained 17 years worth of water after Wilma because they felt it might rain more. Now we go by what they have to say again?

[tyler d]

It's twisted because it shows the complete incompetence of our Water Management leaders.

[RED BARON]

All they can do is take depth measurements of the lake and visually inspect when water is flowing into the basin or not. The rest is a bunch of hog wash.

[Lady Justice]

If anyone cares to look up the history the Big O they will find that this article is extremely misleading. These engineers want to be front page and center so they get some sort of recognition. In reality we have created this monster and we have let irresponsible management take it to the extreme. They will not tell you that the lake was originally between 2 to 8 feet of water, they will not tell you that if there is a hurricane, flooding will result in many loss of lifes. They will not tell you that it will not just be to the south of the lake. So what else is new. They drained the lake, have not repaired the retaining walls they created. So it's a disaster in the waiting.

[WEEEE]

Wonderful news!

[florida native]

ansa wrote:

I think this story is a little twisted. The engineers drained 17 years worth of water after Wilma because they felt it might rain more. Now we go by what they have to say again?

do not be so hard on water management we can only hope they will never do what they have done in the past ever again. my dad used to say you learn by your mistakes and i am kinda sure they have learned from this horrible position they put all of south florida in and i truly hope yhey have been toldby state officals never to do what they did after hurricane wilma. i would think the person at wmd has received enough grief and critizion for what they did by lowwering the lake to make them have nightmares the rest of their natural life as for me i will be calling them to remind them not to lower the water level at all until they hear from me or the state officals and i also will be calling my senator and the governor to remind wmd not to lower the lake until h freezes over if you know what i mean i stay at home so i can be a thorn in their side and anyones else side i may want to be. so i have the time to make as many calls as i want to to explain what we as the general person in florida have gone through because of their stupid mistake years ago and trust me as soon as i am done here i will be calling.

[florida native]

WEEEE wrote:

Wonderful news!

only if we continue to get rain water flowing the kissimmee river basin and we still must conserve just in case because do not forget the lake is still below the level it should be and therefore until we get a good hurricane that totally drenches that part of florida but with no damage to property or loss of lives we will be in the same situtation as we have been so far.

[bubba]

P-H-U-K-I-N-G M-O-R-O-N-S! THE WATER SHOULD NOT, I REPEAT SHOULD NOT BE FLOWING BACK INTO THE LAKE BECAUSE THATS WHAT KILLED IT TO BEGIN WITH! DO NOT INTRODUCE ANY OUTSIDE WATER OR, YOU WILL BE ALLOWING BACK INTO THE LAKE ALGAE,PESTICIDES,CONTAMINATED WATER,FERTILIZER AND ALL THE OTHER CRAP THAT RUINED IT LAST TIME! YOU IDIOTS SHOULD BE SHOT! THESE WORDS OF WISDOM HAVE BEEN BROUGHT TO YOU BY: BUBBA, THE MANS MAN!

[Not So]

"florida native wrote: do not be so hard on water management we can only hope they will never do what they have done in the past ever again. my dad used to say you learn by your mistakes and i am kinda sure they have learned from this horrible position they put all of south florida in and i truly hope yhey have been toldby state officals never to do what they did after hurricane wilma"
I have disagree with this - SFWM DID NOT learn any lessons after they caused a water shortage in 2001 by draining the lake and did so again last year. I can remember canals all over South Florida that were connected to the main discharge flow were running "reddish-brown water" for weeks. These idiots just can't seem to get it right!

[no more water]

Don't empty the lake because you "think" we're going to get a hurricane. If we do get a storm, and if we have floods, its part of nature's cycle. And keep the restrictions to one watering a week, maximum. Anymore than that is irresponsible waste.

[woody hayes]

no more water wrote:

Don't empty the lake because you "think" we're going to get a hurricane. If we do get a storm, and if we have floods, its part of nature's cycle. And keep the restrictions to one watering a week, maximum. Anymore than that is irresponsible waste.

The lake was made by man, not nature.

[MyNewAlias]

Not So wrote:

"florida native wrote: do not be so hard on water management we can only hope they will never do what they have done in the past ever again. my dad used to say you learn by your mistakes and i am kinda sure they have learned from this horrible position they put all of south florida in and i truly hope yhey have been toldby state officals never to do what they did after hurricane wilma"
I have disagree with this - SFWM DID NOT learn any lessons after they caused a water shortage in 2001 by draining the lake and did so again last year. I can remember canals all over South Florida that were connected to the main discharge flow were running "reddish-brown water" for weeks. These idiots just can't seem to get it right!

the army drained the lake.

[Becky]

woody hayes wrote:

<quoted text>
The lake was made by man, not nature.

Are you serious? I thought it was a natural lake.

[hungry puzzie]

Water is ever-flowing and there will never be a water shortage, ever. If you don't believe me, just check out the videos of these guys diving underground in the springs of middle-northern Florida.

Now the management of the water, thats a whole different story. Way to go Army Corp of engineers. These guys have screwed up more than a few tings in their lifetime. Maybe they do not get paid well and dont are what happens. I think a bunch of chimpanzee's are running the joint, and if they arent chimpanzee's, maybe we should try that approach and pay them in banana's.

[Managers-]

The lake remains about 3 to 4 feet below normal, still suffering from the results of 18 months of below-normal rainfall and decisions last year to lower the lake in advance of hurricanes that never materialized.
They're as inept as "W"

[Bill Nev say nev]

I love the 6 six year old photo of the lake.

[fedup with sugar]

what a skewed article. Facts:

1 - Sugar controls the lake, making products that are useless for food an dmake kids fat drinking coke.

2 - The lake does not feed the everglades, sugar farmland is in the way, like a giant polluted hairball. the lake is diverted to the east and west coast wher eit is destroying the estuaries

3 - The best idea every was shelved by the sugar interests, building a 2mile wide spillway with a rebuilt floway into the everglades. at 12 ft high.

Bottom line the sugar farms need to be shut down, and pay for cleanup and eliminate the taxpayer welfare we pay them to grow sugar. the lake is dead and the east and west coast are next

[Luvdance PembrokePines]

If you look up Lake Okeechobee on the internet and read the introduction, you will see that it says it has an average depth of 9', so why do they say we are 3' to 4' below normal? Isn't normal almost the same as average? Just wondering

[Truth]

Where did you go to school?? Lake Okeechobee is a "natural lake" from evolution. Man made the levy that surrounds it. Ironically man is the one who drained it too.

The levy was put in place due to the hurricane in the 1920's which killed more then 2000 people.

woody hayes wrote:

<quoted text>
The lake was made by man, not nature.

[Truth]

It is.....he is misguided.

Becky wrote:

<quoted text>
Are you serious? I thought it was a natural lake.