ARTICLE REFERENCE: $300 million scheme to send polluted water underground is untested and unwise

By RANDY SCHULTZ
SEP 25, 2018 | 4:10 PM

South Florida’s most important public agency may make a big mistake on South Florida’s most important public issue.

That would be water quality. Ironically, the agency is the South Florida Water Management District, which is responsible for flood control and water supply over the southern third of the state. Two weeks ago, the district’s governing board approved what could be a $10 million down payment on a $300-400 million boondoggle.

Lake Okeechobee’s algae crisis has become national news and a key issue in the races for U.S. Senate and governor. Discharges of polluted water have created separate crises – only the most recent – on the southeast and southwest coasts.

As I wrote last week, the priority should be creating a reservoir south of the lake to prevent many of those discharges. The reservoir would clean the water, which then would be sent farther south to help the parched Everglades. The science behind this approach is sound. Federal money toward the project is in next year’s budget.

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