Lake Okeechobee’s leaky dike repairs drag on
A $50 million flood of taxpayer money meant to speed up repairs of Lake Okeechobee’s leaky dike may shave only a few years off the slow-moving fixes.
To guard against South Florida flooding, the Florida Legislature this month approved the money to help the federal government reinforce the 30-foot-tall mound of rock, shell and sand that holds back lake waters.
Fixing the 143-mile-long dike also is billed as a way to store more water in the lake. That could reduce draining to the coast that fuels toxic algae blooms, which scare away fish and tourists alike.
But it’s expected to cost nearly $1 billion to finish strengthening the lake’s erosion-prone dike — with construction lasting until 2025.
Even with the state’s $50 million contribution, federal officials say it would also require doubling the amount Congress has been paying each year just to get finished a few years sooner. And it remains to be seen whether Congress would deliver that money.
Congress would need to pay about $200 million a year, according to the Army Corps of Engineers, which leads the dike repair.
Each new hurricane season brings growing flooding concerns for lakeside communities waiting for dike repairs to be finished, Belle Glade Mayor Steve Wilson said.
“If the dike doesn’t get repaired, these [lakeside] communities could get devastated,” Wilson said. “Every year, we are having storms . ... We don’t want a repeat of what happened in New Orleans.”
Flooding from the lake following hurricanes in 1926 and 1928 swamped South Florida, killing more than 3,000 people and prompting construction of the dike.
Now, the more than 70-year-old dike is considered one of the country’s most at risk of failing — raising renewed flooding fears for communities south of the lake.
Palm Beach County leaders for years have implored the federal government to send more money south to speed dike repairs.
The state’s extra money for Lake Okeechobee dike repairs came along with approval of a $1.5 billion proposal to team with the federal government to build a reservoir south of the lake.
For the reservoir to proceed, Congress would have to agree to pay half the tab.