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| -Short Attention Span Theater- | |
| Drought Aids Scientists in Muck Removal | |
| 2007-05-25 | |
| Before everyone gets upset, it's NOT our Muck4Doo. WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - State water and wildlife managers are taking advantage of an unprecedented drought by removing life-choking muck along Lake Okeechobee's shoreline. I take offense at the description of Muck as life-choking. He's a bit odd but not that way. The 500,000 cubic yards of rotted, dead plant life and sediment - enough to fill Dolphin Stadium from the field to its highest seat - will be trucked from the lake starting Thursday. Its removal over several months will return the bottom of the lake along its southwest shoreline to a more natural sandy base and create clearer water and better habitat for plants and wildlife. Lake Okeechobee is a backup drinking water source for millions in South Florida and the lifeblood of the Everglades. It has dropped to a near-record low after a months-long drought experts say is the worst the region has ever seen. It wouldn't have dropped that low if not for "Flood Control". While the drought has led to severe water restrictions across the state, it has presented an opportunity to clean portions of the highly polluted lake, as water levels have dropped enough to expose typically submerged shoreline. The muck, which has accumulated over the years, is choking life from the lake's shore. It prevents sunlight from reaching the bottom, keeps fish from laying eggs and inhibits plant growth. I think they should call it Sediment. Muck is a really nice person. I think he should sue for defamation of character. Portions of shoreline will soon see the return of wading birds, fish and native plants long smothered by the blanket of muck, which has become more of a dry, soil-like material after baking in the sun, said Don Fox, a biologist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. He said fish breeding attempts have been futile. "When they try to lay eggs in this muck, they just sink down," Fox said. "There's low oxygen content and they just die." The initial removal is part of an $11.5 million project that will eventually take out about 3.8 million cubic yards of muck along up to 15 miles of shoreline, he said. It is the largest ever such project at the 730-square-mile body of water, the second-largest natural freshwater lake in the contiguous United States, behind Lake Michigan. Wonder where they're gonna put it. It's Hazardous Waste.
This is from fertilizers. The project beginning Thursday will remove some of the phosphorous, but state water managers are still devising a plan to get out the rest of it. "The big benefit will be getting that material off the lake bottom so we can get the plant life back and restore the fisheries habitat," said Susan Gray, deputy executive director of watershed management for the South Florida Water Management District, which is also working on the project. "But when you get the vegetation growing back in the lake, you also get an improved ability for the lake to absorb phosphorous." Audubon of Florida scientist Paul Gray called the effort a step in the right direction, but noted, "it's not going to save the lake." "It's still a really good thing," Gray said. "But if the lake would fluctuate normally, we wouldn't have to do this. Mother Nature would fix it." Lake Okeechobee has suffered from years of dikes, dams and diversions intended for flood control. Its main water source, the Kissimmee River, starting to the north near Orlando, was diverted in the 1960s by the Army Corps of Engineers with a 22-mile canal. The move flushed massive amounts of water and pollution from urban runoff and agriculture into the lake. The corps is working to restore the river. | |
| Posted by:Deacon Blues |
| #9 I went to the depot for some dry lake bottom all they had left was north shore muck I bought 8 bags and drove home in a downpour that's how I got a gator in my pickup truck. chorus |
| Posted by: Opie 2007-05-25 11:53 |
| #8 Phosphorous is the biomass-limiting element on the planet. There is excess available supply of all the other elements common to life (carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur, etc.), but not phosphorous. 'New' phosphorous enters the ecosystem with volcanic eruptions - hence the exceptional fertility of volcanic hillsides, once new life gets started. I was not being facetious when I said they should bag this stuff and sell it - it really could be a business opportunity. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2007-05-25 11:44 |
| #7 life-killing nutrient Gotta go think on that for a while. |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2007-05-25 11:09 |
| #6 The muck could have been removed years earlier but for the regs that, for all practical purposes, prohibit dredging. Thus the State has to wait for droughts to get this done. Regarding disposel, this should not be a problem. Florida (like most States) has landfills that have reached capacity and need to be topped with material that provides a growth medium. Florida also has abandoned sugar plantations which could use a layer of muck. |
| Posted by: mhw 2007-05-25 11:06 |
| #5 Deacon: Wonder where they're gonna put it. It's Hazardous Waste. Doc Steve: Just dump it in some suburb somewhere, no one will notice. I thought the reporter's idea of putting it in Dolphin Stadium was a good one. Couldn't stink any worse than the team. |
| Posted by: GK 2007-05-25 08:27 |
| #4 Yup. Make muck purchases mandatory with purchases of fertilizer. They're the ones who put it there in the first place. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2007-05-25 08:02 |
| #3 Phosphorous is the single most critical element in fertilizer, and the hardest to find & process. This project could be a phosphorous mine/recycling program as much as a lake restoration program. Bag the muck up and sell it to farmers. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2007-05-25 07:27 |
| #2 Hugo is in Venezuela, not Columbia. Yet. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2007-05-25 07:24 |
| #1 Hey, if all ya got is cherries, make cherry pie. Take the barge to Columbia and dump it on Hugo. |
| Posted by: Woozle Elmeter2970 2007-05-25 01:42 |