Lake Okeechobee water ruling favors clean water advocates in Florida

Water quality advocates celebrated a victory after a lawsuit from three Florida sugar companies was rejected in court.

The lawsuit involved the use of the EAA Reservoir, which was built to hold water from Lake Okeechobee to reduce harmful discharges to coastal estuaries like the Caloosahatchee.

The sugar companies sued the Army Corps of Engineers, claiming they were owed some of that water for irrigation.

Daniel Andrews from Captains for Clean Water shared his thoughts on the court’s decision.

“We haven’t had major discharges for 7 years, and we’re still experiencing the impacts of that last discharge event that we had because it takes so long to recover,” said Andrews. “We’re glad the courts agreed with us, but it gives us a sense of hope that this estuaries that are still suffering from what happened in 2018 can begin to recover.”

This ruling supports the approval of the Everglades Agricultural Area Reservoir and Stormwater Treatment Area Project.

“This is a huge win for America’s Everglades and our coastal estuaries that are dependent on the EAA reservoir to provide restorative flows to the River of Grass and meaningful relief from damaging flows from Lake Okeechobee,” said SCCF James Evans at a partner press conference.

This decision is a setback for the sugar industry, which sought to delay or undermine this restoration progress. The SCCF, along with 11 other organizations, backed the Corps by signing an amicus brief in 2021 filed by the Everglades Law Center.

These partners included Captains for Clean Water, The Everglades Foundation, and several local governments and associations.