(Following is the summary page for a new "Safe Level Plan" adopted by the Rivers Coalition in Stuart and endorsed by a growing number of leaders. Additional information and data is available from the Coalition and published on Floridasportsman.com. -KW)

The Safe Level Plan for the Lake Okeechobee watershed is proposed as a program to substantially lessen the immense damages sustained by the Everglades, the lake ecosystem itself, the estuaries, wildlife and our communities' socioeconomic bases due to excessive water heights.

Action to implement the SLP should be taken on an emergency basis.

As detailed in this document and in supporting papers, past management of lake levels has failed repeatedly, with disastrous consequences.

In essence, the SLP calls for Lake Okeechobee to be maintained at maximum heights above sea level of 12.5 to 15.5 feet, with the maximum goal height fluctuating according to the time of year and circumstances.

Actual lake heights have been allowed to be far above these levels, causing multi-million-dollar damages.

Although changes of a foot or less in the lake's height may seem relatively benign without additional knowledge, it should be noted that one foot of lake volume is equivalent to well over 150,000,000,000 gallons of water. Excess water in quantities such as that 150 billion gallons has flooded the lake's littoral zone (main life area) and triggered immense discharges "to tide" where estuary health has been gravely compromised on repeated occasions.

The SLP may be considered safe in four important aspects:

-- The lower heights would provide security for and foster life systems.
-- Threats of community flooding or dike impairment would be reduced.
-- Agricultural needs and production would not be affected.
-- Municipal water supplies would not be compromised.

Supplemental reports describe damages caused by high-water schedules to estuarine life such as oysters, blue crabs, fish and seagrasses. Other research indicates that agricultural production, such as tons of sugar produced per acre, has not been reduced in times of lower lake levels, even in drought years.

In summary, all retrospective analyses of management practices in recent years indicate that water levels could have been maintained at SLP maximums while preventing substantial damages and attaining goals as specified.

Thus, it is the judgment of endorsing entities that the SLP be implemented without delay.

The SLP's wide-ranging effects will augment benefits to be achieved through the longer-range Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan.