Stretching over 730 square miles, Lake Okeechobee is the largest lake in the southeastern United States. Often labeled as the liquid heart of Florida, Lake Okeechobee lies at the center of the Florida Everglades.

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Over time, the rapid delivery of storm water from the Kissimmee Basin upstream has continued to have a devastating effect on Lake Okeechobee. Without the natural filtration of the vast marsh and slow delivery of the oxbows, pollution from sewage, fertilizers, pesticides, manure, and other sources have been poured into the lake for decades.

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The South Florida Water Management District’s numbers show that over the past five years an average of 95 percent of the water flowing into Lake Okeechobee was from northern basins, contributing 92 percent of the phosphorus and 89 percent of the nitrogen to the lake.

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Learn more about Lake Okeechobee here.