Okeechobee Waterway of Orlando and extending southward through the Kissimmee River Basin to the Everglades National Park to Florida Bay. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers manages five locks and dams along the Okeechobee Waterway. The St. Lucie lock was built in 1941 for navigation and flood-control purposes. In 1944, the connecting spillway structure was built for flood and regulatory flow control through the St. Lucie Canal to manage the water level in Lake Okeechobee. The Port Mayaca Lock and Dam was built in 1977 for navigation purposes, to permit the raising of water levels in Lake Okeechobee, and to moderate the
Kissimmee/Okeechobee Lowland Kissimmee/Okeechobee Lowland The Kissimmee/Okeechobee Lowland is one of 47 distinct lake regions within the state of Florida, United States. The Kissimmee/Okeechobee is located in the central part of the state bounding Lake Okeechobee to the south and extending north to the Osceola Slope in Osceola County. It is bounded on the west by the Lake Wales Ridge system and on the east by the Eastern Flatlands. Counties within its borders are Osceola, Highlands, Polk, Okeechobee, and Glades. The Kissimmee/Okeechobee Lowland's name was established by Florida Department of Environmental Protection's Lake Bioassessment/Regionalization Initiative. Delineations are determined by soils, physiography, geology, hydrology,