Lake Okeechobee Water Quality
Water quality in the largest freshwater lake in Florida has improved over the past two years, according to the most recent water quality data. Lake Okeechobee, covering 730 square miles with more than 100,000 acres of wetland habitats, has been aided by two relatively inactive hurricane seasons and resulting low phosphorus inflows.
Phosphorus levels in Lake Okeechobee recently registered an average of 77 parts per billion across 27 monitoring sites, with near-shore areas at an average of 33 ppb showing the greatest improvement.
Low water levels have had crews scraping away excess sediments. More than 1.9 million cubic yards of phosphorus-rich sediment was scraped and trucked off Lake Okeechobee's dried-out shoreline, exposed by drought.
November 27, 2007 8:50 AM | Category: Lake Water Quality