The silver lining

You have probably heard that Florida is experiencing a severe drought. Rain has been so infrequent that water levels in Lake Okeechobee are at record lows. The receding shoreline has exposed tons of muck, defined in the article as “rotted, dead plant life and sediment” (yum!). This stuff is apparently killing off life in Okeechobee. Seeing an opportunity to help breathe some life back into lake, the state is going to remove the muck.

"The big benefit will be getting that material off the lake bottom so we can get the plant life back and restore the fisheries habitat," said Susan Gray, deputy executive director of watershed management for the South Florida Water Management District, which is also working on the project. "But when you get the vegetation growing back in the lake, you also get an improved ability for the lake to absorb phosphorous."

Pretty cool.