Water from the C-44 canal is “back flowing” into Lake Okeechobee, laden with nutrients from farm runoff. The last thing Lake O needs is dirty water, or more water; indeed the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which manages the dike around the lake, is trying to lower the lake level.

But the water must go into the lake because the Caulkins water farm can’t take the water, due to a technicality: the Army Corps permit stipulates that when Lake O discharges stop — as they did March 30 — so do the pumps sending canal water to the water farm.

Caulkins project manager Tom Kenny said the farm could definitely handle the water, but no one asked to modify the agreement with the Corps — not Caulkins, not the South Florida Water Management District or the Corps itself.

So TCPalm reporter Tyler Treadway posed the question; Caulkins and the water district were open to the idea while the Corps was noncommittal.

There’s no guarantee water will start flowing to the farm any time soon. But if it does, it just proves the old adage that sometimes, all you’ve got to do is ask.

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