Fla. won't put polluted water in Lake Okeechobee to help farmers

Despite pleas from farmers, South Florida officials will not pump polluted water into Lake Okeechobee to raise its drastically low levels.

The South Florida Water Management District decided Thursday not to allow the decades-old practice of back-pumping, which has been used to ease droughts despite criticism from environmentalists.

The board's nine members are chosen by the governor, and all four votes against pumping were made by Gov. Charlie Crist's appointees. The three who voted in favor of pumping were seated by former Gov. Jeb Bush. Two members did not vote.

"I feel like we've got to make the decision that we're not going to manage our economic crises this way," said board member Shannon Estenoz, a Crist appointee.

Estenoz said pumping even less than previous years would add 300 tons of nitrogen and 15 to 20 tons of phosphorus to the lake, the heart of the Everglades and a backup drinking water source for millions. The pumped-in water is farm runoff from drainage canals south of the lake.

"I can't vote for knowingly putting that much pollution into a water body like the lake," Estenoz said.

South Florida is home to U.S. Sugar Corp., the nation's largest producer of cane sugar, and much of the state's $15 billion landscaping and nursery industries. It also is a huge producer of winter vegetables like tomatoes, corn and squash.
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