What is one negative consequence for building the dike around Lake Okeechobee?

If this soil erosion is allowed to continue, it will eventually create large cavities in the dike. And those large cavities — with water from the lake running through them unimpeded — create a serious risk that the dike will breach, with large releases of water from Lake Okeechobee flooding the surrounding lands.



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That “back-pumping” can carry with it fertilizers, pesticides and other pollutants that can lead to fish kills, toxic algae blooms and threaten drinking water supplies.

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Many years of high water levels in the Lake made the Dike prone to “piping,” a leak that can lead to collapse. Erosion and Dike failure can also occur from water overtopping the Dike during major storm events. On a scale of Dam Safety Action Classification, the Dike is identified at Level 1 on a scale of 1-5.

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About 2,500 acres of estuaries are polluted, accounting for 99% of the total assessed. A big driverof that is Lake Okeechobee, which covers about 450,000 square acres and has been polluted by decades of agricultural and stormwater runoff.

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The Florida Department of Health advises against it, according to its website. Fish tested from water with blue-green algae show that cyanotoxins don't accumulate much in the edible parts — muscle or fillet — of fish, but can in other organs, its website says. The safest choice is to not harvest or eat these fish.

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“The Storm of 1928” pushes water out of Lake Okeechobee. Several thousand people drown in the small farming communities bordering its southern rim. Wind tides on the lake cause such deadly overflows that the state forms the Okeechobee Drainage District to prevent future destruction.

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However, it is estimated that the hurricane caused at least 2,500 deaths and possibly as many as 3,000 in areas surrounding Lake Okeechobee. Migrant farm workers accounted for around 75% of the fatalities, making identification of both the deceased and missing bodies very difficult.

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