According to the information published on the Florida state website, geological surveys reveal that this lake was formed around 6,000 years ago. It is believed that the ocean waters receded and left shallow waters covering a big part of Florida.
The Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie rivers were connected to Lake Okeechobee to drain the Everglades for farming and development. The Caloosahatchee needs water from the big lake during the dry season to help balance its delicate estuary.
The problem is that Lake Okeechobee fills up six times faster than it can be drained by canals. And rising waters raise fears of a New Orleans-like failure of the outdated, 30-foot-tall barrier of limestone, sand and shell rimming the lake, relied on to protect South Florida from flooding. And the problem is man-made.
It is not an indicator of the lake's depth, which is much shallower. The deepest spot in all of Lake Okeechobee is about 12 feet when the water level is average. Most of its area is shallow enough to wade, that is, if there weren't tens of thousands of alligators living there.
At a lake level of 21 feet--a 1-in-100-year flood event--a dike failure would be likely at one or more locations. In the event of a dike failure, waters from Lake Okeechobee would pass through the breach--uncontrollably--and flood adjacent land. Flooding would be severe and warning time would be limited.
It is the eighth largest natural freshwater lake among the 50 states of the United States and the second-largest natural freshwater lake contained entirely within the contiguous 48 states.
The problem with the water discharges from Lake Okeechobee is that they're dirty. They carry pollutants that flow downstream from Central Florida. Pollutants contribute to algae blooms, which are harmful to people and wildlife.
Water that historically overflowed the banks of Lake Okeechobee during the summer rainy season would sheet flow to the Everglades and Florida Bay. The development and expansion of the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) south of the lake severed the natural hydrological connection in the watershed.
12′Lake Okeechobee / Max depth
The waterway's controlling channel depth is normally 6.44 feet. There are as many as 25 bridges that cross the Okeechobee Waterway depending on the route chosen. The limited vertical clearance of the waterway is 49' at Port Mayaca.
With an estimated population of 12,925 gators, Jesup ranks second to mammoth Lake Okeechobee (28,106) for the number of alligators in a state lake. But while Okeechobee has more than twice the number of gators as Jesup, it's also 28 times larger.
The Okeechobee Utility Authority usually pulls 2.5 million gallons per day from the lake. They can also pull from the Rim Canal nearby as a backup option. In about 15 to 20 minutes, raw lake water is drinkable.