Lake Okeechobee Part 2

    There are a few small towns around Lake Okeechobee, all appear to be economically depressed.

    Belle Glade Water Supply

    Pahokee Theater

    Canal Point

    Clewiston

    Sugar Burn

    South Bay Water Supply

    Hotel, Clewiston

    Alligators

    Collapsible Ride, Pahokee

    Belle Glade

    Belle Glade

    Canal Point

    Clewiston

Lake Okeechobee, Part 1

Lake Okeechobee in Florida drains (or used to drain) to the Everglades.  After a series of devastating storms in the 1920s, the lake was surrounded by a dike, and canals were built to the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts.  The result is a largely dead lake, and a severely endangered Everglades.  Because of the rules in place to prevent the lake from overflowing (as it used to do naturally), the canals bring water to the coasts, along with too many nutrients (from agricultural fertilizers) and at a volume too high for the outlets to handle.  The results are poisonous red tides and severe erosion.

Elwha River, 2010-2014

The Elwha and Glines Canyon dams, on the Elwha River in Washington, were built at the beginning of the 20th century, without permit, by a paper company.  After many years of activism on the part of local environmentalists and the Elwha Klallam Indians, the federal government agreed to remove the dams.  The dams have now been removed, and the salmon have returned to spawn.  Thousands of seedlings have been planted to help speed the restoration of the local ecosystem.  It will be many decades before the area returns to something resembling its previous state.

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New York City Water Tunnel No. 3

City Tunnel No. 3 is one of the largest infrastructure projects in the United States.  It was begin in 1970 and is nearing completion.  Completion of the tunnel will allow maintenance work to be done on Tunnels 1 and 2, which have been in continuous operation since their completion early in the 20th century.  The new tunnel begins at Hillview Reservoir in Westchester, then travels south through the Bronx.  Valve chambers allow portions to be shut down and to redirect water flow.  The largest valve chamber is located underneath Van Cortlandt Park.  There are other valve chambers underneath Central Park and Roosevelt Island.  The Tunnel splits in midtown, one leg going east to Queens and then Brooklyn, another south on the West Side of Manhattan.  There are shafts to allow for access every few miles, and each shaft has a distinctive ventilation tower.  Photographs of the shafts can be seen in a previous blog entry.

Shaft 2b, City Tunnel No. 3, Bronx, New York

Shaft 2b, City Tunnel No. 3, Bronx, New York

Shaft 13b, City Tunnel No. 3, New York, New York

City Tunnel Nol 3, Queens, New York

City Tunnel No. 3, Brooklyn, New York

New York City Water Tunnel No. 3 Ventilation Towers

City Tunnel No. 3 has been under construction since 1970 (for more information see my other post about the tunnel).  Each shaft has a ventilation tower.  Originally, the sidewalk entry door for each shaft, (some as deep as 1000 feet), was labelled with the shaft number.  These were removed after 9/11/01.  But they can still located by their distinctive ventilation towers.  The towers are not identical, but have a consistent style.  Once you've seen these you should be able to recognize others.

Shaft 14b, New York

Shaft 19b, Brooklyn

Shaft 16b, Queens

Shaft 23b, Brooklyn

Shaft 11b, New York

Shaft 20b, Brooklyn

Central Arizona Project

The Central Arizona Project is one of the largest aqueduct systems ever built, supplying water from the Colorado River to Central and Southern Arizona.  This recharge field, photographed in November 2014 near Tucson, is used to return some water to the severely depleted water table.