State: Low Lake Okeechobee levels threaten farmers

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
TALLAHASSEE, Fla.

Farmers around Lake Okeechobee will face serious financial difficulties if officials can't figure out a way to get its water level up, state Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson said Tuesday.

The lake stores irrigation water for about 700,000 acres of normally highly productive farmland in South Florida, but it has been about 4 feet below its normal levels during an 18-month drought.

Water managers said last month that the Kissimmee River basin that feeds the lake needed about 5 feet of rain just to catch up. While South Florida has been getting more rainfall of late, it's still not back to normal levels, Bronson said.

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