Okeechobee dilemma

A recent guest commentary by Rae Ann Wessell ("Water board right to stop failed policy," FW Sept. 27) proves that we are continuing to look at Lake Okeechobee's environmental problems through a political microscope, instead of a scientific one.

We should be troubled by the South Florida Water Management District's decision to not pump water south of Lake Okeechobee into the lake. This politicallymotivated decision leaves the lake at a drastically low level. It leaves us without a real solution to the current drought conditions. And it keeps clean water from being put back in the lake.

People should not ignore the fact that the farmers in the south are cleaning their water. They are working to meet their phosphorous goals, yet there continues to be a blatant disregard for the phosphorous target from east, west and north of the lake. That's not rhetoric. That's fact.

I am in agreement that we need to clean up our estuaries. But we need to look in our own backyards. If we really want to do what's right, it's time we demand everyone start working toward a 40 ppb (parts per billion) phosphorous goal for Lake Okeechobee, and we need to start with the north. There's a huge cleanup program under way in the north, and we need to give the program time to work.

I agree with one statement Ms. Wessell made. She said, "every system - natural and manmade - has operating limits. If we are to make a commitment to and investment in restoration, we must begin with the limits of the natural system and not make public policy decisions based on political compromises." She is exactly right. Decisions regarding the cleanup of Lake Okeechobee should be based on science. The science says the problems afflicting the lake, in fact, start north of the lake. That's where our focus should be.

Judy Sanchez, Director of Corporate Communications U.S. Sugar, Clewiston