Clewiston, Fla.-Sugar cane growers claim they are doing their part to reduce phosphate runoff, mandated by the state to be 25 percent per year, but said that this year’s weather and pollution north of Lake Okeechobee resulted in their falling short of the mark. According to the South Florida Water Management District, the amount of phosphate leaving the 500,000 farmland acres south of Okeechobee decreased 18 percent between May 2006 and April 2007. Judy Sanchez, spokeswoman for U.S. Sugar Corp., said farmers had to deal with increased phosphate loading in Okeechobee irrigation water more than triple expected levels, a result of multiple hurricane and drought damage. Despite this, Sanchez added, farmers in the Everglades Agricultural Area have averaged 50 percent reductions since the clean-up program began. The district agrees that the lake continues to feel the effects of active hurricane seasons in 2004 and 2005 that stirred up the muck-covered bottom and released more phosphate. Also, the legislature this year approved $100 million for Everglades restoration north of the lake, intended to help build water storage and treatment areas to clean water before it flows south. “Until the lake problem is addressed, you are going to have more problems downstream,” Sanchez insisted. Actually, the district reported, the current year was the first time in 11 years that the region failed to meet the 25 percent standard. The law stipulates that the region must meet the standard in at least one year out of a consecutive three-year period.
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