OKEECHOBEE — Lake Okeechobee needs better publicity. At their Aug. 13 meeting, Okeechobee County Commissioners discussed ways to counter the bad publicity the Big O has received in the past.

“Over the past few years, we’ve had a lot of bad publicity about the lake,” Leif Garrard of Garrard’s Bait and Tackle told commissioners.

He said they need a way to reach out to people in places like Kentucky and Ohio. He suggested inviting reporters from those areas to visit Lake Okeechobee.

“We need some good feedback to bring the people back here,” said Garrard. “A lot are going to lakes north of here.”

“We’ve had some very bad publicity,” said Commission Chair David Hazellief. “I see the big tournaments. I see the big fish and the limits. We need to get the word out.”

Garrard said they can talk to the motels about providing rooms for the reporters, restaurants about feeding them and guides about taking them out on the lake.

The bad publicity about Lake Okeechobee not only hurts the guides, said Hazellief. It impacts the motels and restaurants. It might even affect people thinking about moving to Okeechobee.

Commissioners agreed to get a group together to promote the lake.

In addition to inviting reporters to visit, they could also reach out to online influencers.

In 2025, a travel site published a story labeling Lake O as “America’s dirtiest lake,” which was widely circulated online. The study, conducted by vacation rental platform Lake.com, analyzed available chemical data from the National Water Quality Monitoring Council (NWQMC) for 100 of America’s largest lakes, sampled from Jan. 1, 2020, until July 15, 2025.  The goal was to review data for eight factors: Dissolved oxygen (DO), ammonia, lead, phosphorus, sulfate, total dissolved solids (TDS), turbidity and pH. Of the 100 lakes chosen, only 46 had data in at least three of the eight categories

In all but one category, Lake O did NOT have the worst score.  The study apparently considered lead as a major factor in the rankings, although that data was only available for four lakes on the “dirtiest” list and none of the lakes on the “cleanest” list. Lake Okeechobee was shown with 0.67 parts per billion (ppb) lead; Lake Clark in Alaska with 0.2 ppb; Lake George in Florida with 0.2 ppb and Utah Lake in Utah with 0.1 ppb. The article states lead data was available for 11 of the 46 lakes studied and the average was 0.367 ppb. The EPA does not have a standard for lead in surface waters. EPA standard for lead in drinking water is 15 ppb or below.

Lake Okeechobee had more data available than many other lakes because it is used as a source of drinking water. Lake O was “above average” (in the good way)  in the categories of ammonia, sulfate and Total Dissolved Solids. It was lower in dissolved oxygen than northern lakes because cold water holds more oxygen.