OKEECHOBEE, Fla. — This state is in the grip of what may be its worst drought in recorded history. How dry is it? Parts of Lake Okeechobee, in normal years a vast reservoir for slaking the thirst of farms, industry and people, can now be set on fire.
At Pahokee, a farm town of 9,500 on the southeast shore of Lake Okeechobee, sailboats and motorboats lie on the sand or muck of the now exposed lake bed. The town, which draws its drinking water from the lake, had to lower the intake nozzle to avoid sucking in air and may not have dropped it enough.
"This is the worst drought in 100 years," said Randy Smith, spokesman for the South Florida Water Management District, based in West Palm Beach. "Every eight to 10 years in Florida, a spell of drought, like clockwork, comes in. But I've never seen it this bad."
An uncommonly long dry spell is certainly to blame. According to Ken Svoboda, a climate expert at the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Miami this year has received only 74% of its customary rainfall, Orlando and Jacksonville 61%.
Lake Okeechobee, the nation's largest body of fresh water after the Great Lakes, has dropped to record lows. This week, the mean water level fell under 10 feet above sea level, more than 5 feet below where it was at this time last year.
However, there is little doubt nature has been assisted by man, a familiar enough story in a state where growth and development, like sorcerers' apprentices, often usher in unforeseen consequences.
Last year, the water management district intentionally drained more than 100 billion gallons from Lake Okeechobee, which in normal times holds enough to meet four years of potable water demand for Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach and the other cities on the southern Atlantic Coast.
Officials acted after five years of human-engineered high-water levels in the lake had been blamed for killing aquatic vegetation and ruining the habitat of a species of fish greatly popular with anglers, the large-mouth bass.
In pulling the plug at Okeechobee in April 2000, "the [water management] board took a chance," said Tommy Strowd, the district's director of operations.
With the rainfall drying up, the timing turned out to be lousy.
Okeechobee is the ultimate backup source for a complex water system that also includes subterranean aquifers and above-ground holding pools on the fringes of populated Southeast Florida. The lake is considered the "liquid heart" of the system.
