Letter re: LOSOM - EAA Southern Storage1
Bobbie Jenkins
From:Robin Brock
Sent:Monday, February 24, 2020 4:14 PM
To:Lane Gamiotea
Cc:Bobbie Jenkins
Subject:EAA Reservoir Project
Attachments:EAAReservoir Letter.pdf
For the file.
Robin Brock
Executive Assistant
55 SE 3rd Avenue
Okeechobee, FL 34974
Phone: (863) 763-3372
Direct: (863) 763-9812
FAX: (863) 763-1686
Email: rbrock@cityofokeechobee.com
Website: www.cityofokeechobee.com
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CITY OF OKEECHOBEE
55 SE THIRD AVENUE
OKEECHOBEE, FL 34974
Phone: (863)763-3372
www.cityofokeechobee.com
Okeechobee City Council
Mayor Dowling R. Watford, Jr.
Wes Abney
Monica Clark
Bob Jarriel
Bobby Keefe
FLORIDA CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION
SUBJECT: Protecting Florida Water Rights as Established Promised in Implementation
of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan and in Development of
the Lake Okeechobee Regulation Schedule.
The City of Okeechobee is deeply concerned about the potential Toss of water supply for
its residents, and agricultural community, as a result of the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers ("USACE" or "Corps") recent legal position to take away protection of existing
legal water users in their development of the Lake Okeechobee Regulation Schedule
(LOSOM). We write this letter asking congress to establish clear public policy in the
Water Resources Development Act (WRDA 2020) that the rights of existing legal
water users must be protected.
The City of Okeechobee and many other water users fundamentally disagree with the
Corps' recent legal position that the Savings Clause does not apply to LOSOM. The
"Savings Clause" found in Section 601(h)(5) the landmark Water Resources
Development Act of 2000 federal legislation requires the Secretary of the Army Corps to
ensure that implementation of the plan does not cause substantial adverse impacts on
existing legal uses of water as of the date of enactment of the legislation. Elimination of
existing sources of water supply is barred until new sources of comparable quantity and
quality of water are available; existing authorized levels of flood protection are
maintained; and the water compact among the Seminole Tribe of Florida, the State, and
the South Florida Water Management District is specifically preserved.
The Savings Clause established fundamental legal and public policy to CERP, the
Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan — that government cannot and will not
take established and permitted water supply away from existing legal users to
implement ecosystem restoration projects without providing a replacement source of
water.
Make no mistake, our community directly relies on Lake Okeechobee for multitude of
uses including for public water supply, and for water supply for the agricultural sector
which is vital to our community, and the businesses that support our economy.
Recreational use of the lake is also vitally important to the people who live here and
many winter visitors. When the Lake stage is low our lands drain even more to the Lake
and we are subject to longer and more severe water shortage restrictions. Making
matters worse, access to our supply source can be greatly reduced due to shoaling in
the canals leading to our treatment plant intake pipes. In the past, we were barely able
to obtain a small increase in our water permit allocation due to the LORS 2008
1 2
regulation schedule. Without an affordable, water supply availability, our economy
cannot grow. If the Lake regulation schedule is not properly crafted in the new Lake
Okeechobee System Operating Manual (LOSOM), it will unreasonably constrain our
community and our region's ability to grow.
When concerns over the integrity of Herbert Hoover Dike arose in 2008, the Corps
developed a `temporary' lake schedule — LORS 2008 - to operate the lake at lower
levels. LORS08 resulting in losing more than a foot of water storage in the lake and
impacted water users by increasing the likelihood of water shortage conditions. For
years, the Corps has represented that when the $900 million in dike repairs were
completed, they would re-evaluate the lake regulation schedule and look to restore and
improve water supply certainty.
The Corps has started the process to develop a new regulation schedule for Lake
Okeechobee known as LOSOM - the Lake Okeechobee System Operation Manual. In
this process, the USACE has made foundational determinations that will cause
significant impacts to water users:
1. The Corps is using LORS 2008 as the base condition for LOSOM's modeling.
Because LORS08 operates the lake at low levels and substantially eroded
existing permitted water rights, this will make all users subject to shortage
restrictions much more frequently; and
2. The Corps recent legal position is that Comprehensive Everglades Restoration
Plan ("CERP") Savings Clause on water supply does not apply to the new Lake
Okeechobee Regulation Schedule (LOSOM) currently under development. So,
the loss of existing water rights certainty is highly likely and getting embedded
into all future operations. A substantial portion of our community and economy is
built on, and has relied on, permitted water rights establish over the last half -
century. Undermining these water rights is patently unacceptable.
The City of Okeechobee urges Congress to step in and establish critical public policy
language in the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA 2020) to make it clear that
Savings Clause applies to LOSOM. This is vitally important to the future public and
agricultural water supply, as well as the economic prosperity of our community.
Sincerely,
Dowling R. Watford, Jr.
Mayor