The year 2000 was VERY dry, and in 2001, that dry trend is continuing. Water levels throughout the region are unusually low because the rainy season this year delivered only about half the usual rainfall. Much of the rain that did arrive late in 2001 and so far in 2001 fell over areas where storage was minimal. The back-up water supply for both agricultural and urban areas comes from Lake Okeechobee. That's why this year's drought is one of the most severe in history.
Levels are very low in Lake Okeechobee, and in most other available surface water storage areas.
If conditions worsen, that doesn't mean that we'll run out of water, but it does mean that conservation will become a necessity rather than a choice. This is a monumental plan with many projects to build and manage a more efficient system that can capture and store water that is now lost to sea. The project will help to restore the Everglades while meeting the water needs for a growing population for the next 50 years. A Rainfall in South Florida is often very localized, sometimes raining on one side of the street and not on the other, or in one area but not regionally. All areas in the South Florida region depend on the same interconnected system of ground and surface water, with Lake Okeechobee being the backup water supply for most of the region.