The new Lake O plan must protect Florida’s health and environment.

We’ve got more work to do.

That became clear this week during two important meetings about the new Lake Okeechobee plan that the Army Corps of Engineers is developing. The Lake Okeechobee System Operating Manual (LOSOM), as it is known, will determine when and where water is moved from the 730-square-mile lake in the decade to come.

LOSOM will have a huge impact on the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie estuaries, Lake Worth Lagoon, the southern Everglades and Florida Bay — all of which have suffered under the current Lake O plan, which prioritizes sugarcane irrigation over the environment and public health.

The Army Corps has whittled its choices down to six. And only one comes close to being balanced for the entire system: Plan CC. But it has some shortcomings that the Army Corps of Engineers must address, working with the state of Florida.

This is a critical moment for the future of Florida’s water.

That’s where you come in. We’re asking people who care about the future of clean water in Florida to send a message to Col. Andrew Kelly of the Army Corps of Engineers, asking him to embrace an improved Plan CC that sends more clean water south during the dry season, when the Everglades and Florida Bay need it most. Improving CC in this manner also will help alleviate discharges to the Caloosahatchee estuary, which deserves relief from toxic discharges.

Click the button below to send a letter to Col. Kelly today.

Time is of the essence. The Army Corps plans to pick its preferred LOSOM plan by early August.

Let the Army Corps know that clean water and public health matter more than irrigating hundreds of thousands of acres of sugarcane fields south of Lake Okeechobee.