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Budgeting the use of phosphorus (P) in the Lake Okeechobee watershed was performed in order to support the efforts of the South Florida Water Management District in reducing loadings of P to Lake Okeechobee from 600-400 metric tons (t) P/yr (595 to 397 tons P/yr). The primary objective of this research was to perform a use analysis of P-containing materials which are imported to and exported from the Lake Okeechobee watershed. It entailed inventorying characteristics of 28 sub-basins in the watershed, assigning process-determined P flows to the various land-uses as well as to point sources, quantifying P imports to and exports from the sub-basins, and comparing net P imports with P loadings to the lake to measure P storage in the sub-basins. This analysis was facilitated by the use of the geographic information system (GIS), pcARC/INFO, which provided the capabilities for storage, analysis and display of polygon specific land-use information. Phosphorus imports and exports are primarily the result of agricultural activities. Net imports of 6100 t P/yr are 13 times the measured P loading to the lake in drainage waters.
Fluck et al. (Wed,) studied this question.