There is a lingering misperception that farmers in the Everglades Agricultural Area are somehow responsible for the problems in Lake Okeechobee and the St. Lucie estuary, and therefore, farmers— particularly sugar farmers — should have to suffer the consequences. Certain groups are deliberating fostering this falsehood.

The farming communities on Lake Okeechobee are as concerned as coastal residents over the lake's polluted waters. After all, this is currently our only source of drinking water. But if we are ever to solve the water problems of the lake and estuaries, the public needs to be better informed.

The high water levels in the lake have been caused by several years of above-average rainfall both on the lake and north of the lake, as well as an unprecedented series of hurricanes. Hence the term, "natural disasters."

The northern watershed draining Orlando through the Kissimmee River basin into the north end of Lake Okeechobee is responsible for over 97 percent of the inflow to the lake and 97 percent of the phosphorus load. That water is the main culprit in the poor water quality damaging the lake and the estuaries.

Flooding farm fields south of the lake will not solve these environmental problems.

First, flooding the entire farming area would only lower the lake by a foot or so without having to build vast levees to protect surrounding areas from floodwaters.

Second, water currently leaving the farming area is part of a highly successful clean-up program to restore the Everglades. Until the quantity and quality of water draining into the lake from the north is dealt with, you would be merely moving the devastation of the polluted water from Lake Okeechobee through the farms to the Everglades.

The ecosystem has been changed so drastically to accommodate development and 7 million people that flooding phosphorus-rich farmland would cause more harm than good to the system as a whole and still would not prevent large releases to the estuaries during extremely wet conditions.

Justifying the idea of flooding and destroying 500,000 acres of productive farms, fields and communities at a cost of billions, these same folks rant about sugar subsidies.

For the record, there are no subsidies to sugar farmers. Read the farm bill. We get our returns from the marketplace, based on supply and demand. What we do have are import limits on foreign sugar producers dumping their surplus sugar here below its production costs.

In response to hurricane damage to Louisiana and Florida's cane crops, the government significantly increased foreign sugar imports to ensure a stable and affordable price to consumers. That is why you have not seen sugar prices increasing at the supermarket.

Pointing fingers and filing lawsuits will only prevent finding real solutions and further delay any real progress in dealing with the problems of Lake Okeechobee and the estuaries.

Clewiston resident Judy Sanchez is the director of of Corporate Communications for U.S. Sugar Corp.

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