Florida's water crisis: the impacts compound over time just like interest ... by gimleteye

From Craig Pittman Video on the  Indian River Lagoon

A Facebook entry by Barbara Osborn in Stuart, Florida:

Took Bruce to the ER yesterday for an infected left leg. He had a sore on his knee on Monday, went in to the Indian River Lagoon (IRL) on Wednesday. We took several church families out on our new catamaran and anchored off Sailfish point (near the Walgreen house). Of course they all jumped into the IRL from the deck of the boat. Yesterday Bruce's knee and leg was black and swollen, hot to the touch and oozing. He had a fever. He NEVER complains of pain but I forced him to the ER. GOOD thing. The doctor thinks it is a blood infection from the bacteria from the IRL water on Wednesday. We will get the culture back on Monday to see what the bacteria actually is. Gayle Ryan's link to the TC Palm article regarding the local man who died within two days of a fish fin puncture bringing in bacteria from the IRL into his system, probably saved Bruce's life. I wouldn't have taken a closer second look at Bruce's knee had I not read her article link. The doctor lanced and drained the "volcano" the size of a grapefruit on his knee. His whole leg was swollen and hot to the touch. Today Bruce's leg 's swelling is down and it is not throbbing anymore. He is on Bactrim and Keflex. Doctor said he was so correct to come into the ER when he did, could have become so dangerous to Bruce. Thank you Gayle Ryan.

This post on Face Book should remind Miami that the current water crisis is not just one in a series of crises: it is a cumulative event where impacts are compounded. The mismanagement of fresh water resources in South Florida is mainly to benefit the big campaign contributors to state legislators and to Gov. Rick Scott. Big Sugar.

In a just world, state legislators would be made to swim in the Indian River Lagoon, then see how much they like gambling with people's water to benefit their patrons. A recent letter to the Miami Herald also applies:

South Florida has very real water troubles ahead - July 25, 2015

The July 17 article, Water table is lowest in 100 years, announced that the water table in Miami-Dade’s Biscayne Aquifer had hit a 100-year low. Lake Okeechobee fell below 12 feet.

This spring, water managers were dumping Lake Okeechobee water on the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee Estuaries.

Toxic green slime accompanied the discharges.

The South Florida drought was already in full swing, but they had no way to clean the water and send it south.

Last week, South Florida Water Management District Board member James Moran criticized the Corps of Engineers for not allowing the water management district to pump the lake even lower to move water south.

He called the corps’ environmental concerns “an overreach of the sovereign rights of Florida.”

State officials love to blame the corps for everything, but it is the sovereign state of Florida that got us into this mess.

The state asked the corps to build the plumbing system that over-drained the Everglades.

The state fought long and hard against federal water quality standards.

Now they are asking the corps to over-drain Lake Okeechobee. Why not?

Extremely low lake levels affect more than snail kites.

They kill the marshes that make it a living lake. Dead plants with dead roots won’t hold together the mud and muck that has accumulated.

When you kill the environment to get more water, you end up with less water and you end up with very dirty water.

This is the same James Moran who lectured a crowded meeting room in May.

The crowd was there to ask the SFWMD Board to buy land and send the water south.

Moran said that was impossible and unnecessary, “And I don’t know why you claim it will save the Dade County water supply. They get their water from wells.”

He finally seems to have figured out that Miami-Dade's wells are in aquifers that are recharged by water flowing south from Lake Okeechobee.

Too late.

Maggy Reno Hurchalla, Miami