West Palm Beach is getting ready for an upcoming court case addressing federal interference in the city’s ability to manage its drinking water supply. City and county officials say they fear a future water shortage crisis without proper legal protections.
During a press conference Wednesday, Mayor Keith James said an ongoing legal dispute between West Palm Beach and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is over the Everglades Agricultural Area, a newly approved water reservoir project.
The city believes the Corps violated the Savings Clause — a provision of the Water Resources Development Act of 2000 — by approving the EAA project, risking water supply levels for West Palm Beach and surrounding areas.
Local officials say the Corps ignored a 24-year-old provision that ensured utilities maintain appropriate water levels throughout – especially during droughts.
James said the city is challenging a lower court decision that allowed the project to continue. The city filed an amicus brief with the 11th Circuit, challenging the court's interpretation of the clause.
James said the city is seeking assurances that the EAA project won't harm its water supply levels, as guaranteed by the Savings Clause.
“The failure of the Corps to adhere to the Savings Clause, we believe, would jeopardize our access to a reliable and predictable source of water,” James said. “We cannot and we should not take that chance.”
Lake Okeechobee provides backup water for some residents, but access may be restricted during droughts, like the severe 2011 crisis that put pressure on the city’s entire water supply infrastructure.
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James said he’s not sure why the Corps ignored the Savings Clause and chose 2008 levels instead of 2000 levels. “Perhaps they thought it was sufficient, but I don’t try to read people’s minds,” he told WLRN.
The issue will be heard by the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals on Nov. 20.
The U.S. Corps of Engineers have not yet responded to WLRN’s request for comment.
How did we get here
The city said in 2008, the federal government began operating Lake Okeechobee under a temporary schedule called LORS08., which has lasted 16 years, replacing the previous Water Supply and Environment (WSE) schedule from 2000.
Officials say the lawsuit challenges the extended use of the LORS08 schedule and the potential risks it poses to cities and surrounding areas that are dependent on Lake Okeechobee.
This legal dispute highlights the challenge of balancing Everglades restoration with agricultural, environmental, and urban water supply needs.
“Tens of thousands of Palm Beach County residents could be affected by the result of this legal battle,” said newly-elected county commissioner Bobby Powell Jr, a Democrat representing District 7.
Ryan Rossi, Executive Director of the South Florida Water Coalition, said appealing the clause is “mystifying.”
Rossi said he’s confused about how “decades of that sort of legal protection would disappear at a time when climate is more unpredictable, more dramatic, and populations in this area in particular continue to rise.”
James told WLRN he doesn’t know how long the case will take but that “there may be a subsequent appeal to the Supreme Court.”
James said since the city supplies water to Mar A Lago, he hopes to attract the attention of president-elect Donald Trump to the issue.
“Whether that will have an impact or not, I don't know, but hopefully we'll some further attention from those higher up than I am,” he said.
