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Former SFWMD governing board member Mitch Hutchcraft explains why it is much easier to pollute coastal estuaries than it is to fix a serious plumbing problem
As Hurricane Irma brought significant, widespread flooding and damage to the peninsula of Florida, it also brought nearly 3 feet of water to Lake Okeechobee. As is typical during high periods of rainfall, all of this excess water - combined with the double-digit rainfall totals in June - overwhelmed our man-made flood control system and necessitated massive releases to the coastal estuaries from Lake Okeechobee.
It's frustrating to see the releases because it means the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie rivers are being inundated with even more freshwater than our local runoff has poured in, further reducing salinity and creating more damage in our estuaries.
But it also means the Army Corps of Engineers has run out of options for sending water south.
According to federal regulations, there is no opportunity to send any additional water south. In fact, the stormwater treatment areas and water conservation areas are more than a million acre-feet above flood stage, and we continue to have high water levels in Everglades National Park.
Some have tried to use Hurricane Irma as an opportunity to sell the public on additional storage south of Lake Okeechobee, but a southern reservoir would have been of little use with so much rainfall and so few real options to discharge water south.
Data from the South Florida Water Management District shows the proposed southern reservoir in Senate Bill 10 - if it had been bone dry - could have taken only 12 percent of the 2 million acre feet of stormwater that has flooded into Lake Okeechobee.
South Florida Water Management District spokesman Randy Smith said recently, "If there was a reservoir down here, it probably would have done the same thing. It would have filled up."
In studying options that would reduce the need for coastal discharges, the district recently announced restoration projects targeted north of Lake Okeechobee, where more than 95 percent of the water originates, that will significantly reduce the need for future discharges. The district estimates adding 50 additional deep storage wells to the already-planned regional projects could reduce discharges to the St. Lucie by 67 percent and reduce discharges to the Caloosahatchee by 77 percent.
The district puts an affordable $330 million price tag on the projects, which could be operational well before most other storage options. These projects should be a no-brainer at a fraction of the cost of large land buys.
We need to take a holistic approach to finishing projects that will bring the most benefits to everyone impacted by Lake Okeechobee's high water levels rather than continuing the fantasy of ever returning our dramatically altered, dammed, diked and never totally controlled water management system back "to the way it was" 100 years ago.
While the system, as it stands today, is far from working perfectly, it is a flood control system that enables nearly 8 million people to live in South Florida. Through my service on the Governing Board of the South Florida Water Management District, I was proud to make focusing on actually fixing problems a priority. That means that sometimes we have to ignore the small but vocal minority that will never settle for any solution other than "send the water south."
The only real way to "send water south" the way it used to flow would be if we could travel back in time - before the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie Rivers were connected to Lake Okeechobee at the request of our own communities; before the Herbert Hoover Dike was built around the lake; before the federal government enacted strict regulations for Everglades National Park; before the Endangered Species Act; before Tamiami Trail bisected the Everglades; before a federal judge took control of our water quality; and before all of us moved into the system and made more and more demands on the system.
Fortunately, there are scientifically proven ways to improve management of the current system, but that depends on letting the professionals at the district and Army Corps complete the suite of projects that are designed to provide the most relief to the entire Orlando-Lake Okeechobee-Everglades ecosystem.
Mitch Hutchcraft is a former member of the Governing Board of the South Florida Water Management District. He resides in Fort Myers.
Florida Governor Rick Scott signs bill that would build storage reservoir south of Lake Okeechobee
Andrew West/news-press.com
We applaud Florida Governor Rick Scott's proposed funding commitments to statewide water quality projects, especially for the Caloosahatchee reservoir.
On Monday, Scott announced a major part of his final budget as governor, seeking $1.7 billion for environmental programs, including $355 million for Everglades restoration and $105 million for C-43, when once completed, is designed to capture 55 billion gallons of storm water runoff which normally flows into the local basin. The reservoir is important to help keep harmful water from flowing into the Caloosahatchee and creating harmful algae blooms that not only have a devastating impact on sea grass and marine life, but also the tourism industry. Few people want to travel to the Sunshine State if they know dirty, smelly water will be part of their vacation plans.
Although this funding is crucial, we encourage local officials to add a much needed water treatment component to the C-43 project, which is scheduled to have its first storage cell done by 2022. Storing dirty water and then releasing it back into the Caloosahatchee is still a hazard. Filtering out harmful nutrients helps the environment.
Of course, C-43 is not the only solution to this complex environmental puzzle. Reinforcing the Herbert Hoover Dike around Lake Okeechobee, other big water storage and treatment projects planned south of the lake, possible storage wells north of the lake, the continued restoration of the Kissimmee River, plus reducing nitrogen and phosphorous levels, all play crucial roles in cleaning our water.
Scott's environmental budget must be approved by the State House and Senate, but there is very little chance they will fight the governor since the Florida Legislature has been a big supporter in funding water projects. Locally, Sen. Lizbeth Benacquisto, R-Fort Myers, and Rep. Matt Caldwell, R-North Fort Myers, who is a candidate to succeed Adam Putnam as state agriculture commissioner, have been champions of clean water efforts and land conservation.
Arranging priorities when it comes to state water projects is tricky, because they all are needed to preserve and protect the environment, but the dike and storage projects must be priorities. A weak dike means Army Corp of Engineers can't keep more water in the lake and at the same time protect the communities around the lake. A strong dike means the Army Corps can allow water levels to rise slightly, holding more water and keeping less of it from being released into the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie rivers. Right now, the releases are massive - 9,000 cubic feet per second - because of our recent record rains caused by numerous storm systems, including Hurricane Irma.
Local environmentalists are pleased with Scott's early commitment.
"I think the C-43 reservoir is probably the biggest winner in this because that's going to retain a lot of water in the wet season and also put the water back into the Caloosahatchee during the dry season," Eric Draper, executive director of Audubon Florida, told The News-Press.
Containing storm water, containing harmful nutrients, and protecting the local basin is crucial. This is where C-43 can make a difference. The $105 million proposed for the 2018-19 budget, the $106.6 million in this year's budget, the $40 million from the 2016-17 budget and $18 million from 2015-16, means the state has just about met its commitment for funding half of the approximately $600 million project, pledging $269.6 million. The federal government, responsible for providing the other half, is way beyond in its commitment.
Although Congressman Francis Rooney, R-Naples, has helped expedite much-needed federal funds for the completion of the dike, the government is about $1 billion behind in funding the other projects. The feds have told the state to go ahead and fund the projects and complete them, and it will pay Florida back - in time. We're weary of the federal government's commitment to owning up to its promise, since other states also are at the door begging for environmental money. We hope Rooney, other House leaders, as well as Senators Bill Nelson and Marco Rubio, will continue to fight for these funds.
Click Here for a direct live feed showing the current water levels of Lake Okeechobee
as shown on the US Army Corp of Engineers Website.
This current Water level is always updating with live water level conditions for Lake Okeechobee.
The water levels on lake Okeechobee will fluctuate 3-5 feet per year.
The normal water levels on the lake in the winter time range in the 14-16 feet above sea level
The normal water level on Lake Okeechobee in the summer months range in the 12-15 feet above sea level.
The main reason of water levels in lake Okeechobee rising is caused from the run off from rain
in the Kissimmee valley. This area is the land that is between Orlando and Lake Okeechobee.
The two reasons the water levels in Okeechobee fall is from evaporation and farming.
The summer months usually provide most of the rain, from either the afternoon rain showers
or a dreaded Hurricane, this is when the water levels rise in Lake Okeechobee the fastest.
During the winter months the water levels in Okeechobee will consistently fall from January thru June.
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection issued an emergency order in the wake of Hurricane Irma waiving coastal armoring requirements and fees for some oceanfront property owners in St. Johns County.
While catching flak from those who say it will do more harm than good in the long run, the measure could spell some immediate relief for homeowners north of the St. Augustine Inlet who have been seeking protection since well before Hurricane Matthew sideswiped the coast last October.
The department has issued multiple emergency orders in response to Irma that apply to St. Johns County.
One order is pretty similar to that issued after Matthew and other storms, allowing affected counties to deal with permitting on behalf of FDEP, expedite the processes for rebuilding and take other recovery measures with fewer hoops to jump through.
Another order, however, singles out a portion of St. Johns County as an "Emergency Area" and specifically addresses the permitting of seawalls and the criteria for erecting them.
Basically, a requirement that structures be "eligible" for coastal armoring permits, meaning constructed before the state's Coastal Construction Control Line regulatory program, has been waived for property owners in this area. The waiver applies to a more than 22-mile stretch of beach extending roughly from Ponte Vedra Inn and Club, south of the Duval County Line, to San Pelayo Court in Vilano Beach, north of Nease Beachfront Park.
The order, which also waives fees for processing of new permits, renewals and extensions, is set to expire on Oct. 4, unless modified or extended by a subsequent order.
As written in the order, Irma caused "catastrophic damage across the full width of the peninsula," including to homes and other structures along the coast of St. Johns County.
"As a result, many homes and other major structures are uninhabitable, and are in danger of collapse," the order continues. "Currently, additional Tropical Storms, including those presently formed, have the potential to increase that damage and render these properties even more vulnerable to further damage or collapse."
The order says "immediate action," therefore, is warranted.
Local attorney Jane West, whose firm specializes in land use and environmental law, told
The Record on Friday that the department's order is a "short-sighted gimme" and signals a "huge change" from prior rules and regulations.
She said loosening the restrictions on constructing hard armoring such as seawalls would be a "death knell" for the beaches in front of those seawalls as well as those immediately adjacent to the seawalls, which will be even more rapidly eroded. She called hard armoring the "absolute worst and most drastic choice" for protecting the beaches and the properties along them.
"Beaches do not exist in front of seawalls," West said. "While it may protect that one individual property owner, that protection comes at an incredible expense to the rest of the community, because they lose that beach."
She said the county needs long-range planning that accounts for adaptation, not just infrastructure or regular renourishment of sand that can cost millions of dollars, subsidized by the taxpayers, every couple years.
West said she has sympathy for homeowners looking for any solution that will protect their property as soon as possible. However, she also said they should not rush into constructing what they believe to be a solution when it can exacerbate what's already a real problem for those around them.
She referenced a comprehensive assessment done in South Carolina in recent years that came to the conclusion an outright ban of sea walls and the use of hard armoring was critical if they were going to save the state's beaches for residents and tourists, as well as sea turtles.
The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control's Ocean and Coastal Resource Management staff found that experimental walls were unsuccessful in reducing wave energy or its erosive effects on the beaches. But there were previous studies, including one by The Citadel that concluded the walls were a viable alternative to sandbags but weren't a one-size-fits-all solution. Another, by a private engineering firm commissioned by the state's DHEC, found the walls could cause "minimal or insignificant" erosion on adjacent beaches while protecting properties "to some extent."
West said Florida has lacked a meaningful conversation about what's to be done in the long-term about the beaches and all the development that has occurred along them.
Meanwhile, in the wake Irma and Hurricane Harvey, and even with Matthew still a fresh memory, questions are popping up across coastal states in the Southeast as to who's job it is to save the beaches, who should pay to save them, and whether they should even be saved in the first place.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Jacksonville District awarded one of two remaining construction contracts for the Kissimmee River Restoration Project, a massive Everglades restoration project in Polk and Osceola counties.
The SFWMD District is extending the deadline for public comment on the Draft 2017 Lower West Coast Water Supply Plan Update (2017 LWCWSP Update) from October 5
th to
October 27th, 2017. We hope that this additional time will allow those affected by the hurricane to focus on restoration needs where they work and reside.
In addition, we will be presenting an overview of the Draft 2017 LWCWSP Update to the District's Water Resources Advisory Commission at their meeting on October 5
th and to the District's Governing Board at their meeting on October 12, 2017.
The Draft 2017 LWCWSP Update (planning document and appendices) was posted on August 18, 2017 and can be found at: https://www.sfwmd.gov/our-work/water-supply/lower-west-coast. An overview of the Draft 2017 LWCWSP Update was presented at a stakeholder workshop in Bonita Springs on August 30, 2017. The presentation and meeting summary can be found on the website.
New Manatee Protection Zones in Florida Waters
| July 25, 2017
Manatee protection rules are established by Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) to restrict the speed and operation of vessels to protect manatees from being injured. Although the manatee species' status was changed from endangered to threatened in March of 2017, there was a record number of manatees killed in Florida by boaters in 2016, so it's imperative to obey speed zones. Click for maps.
* Restore freshwater flow paths, flow volumes & timing, seasonal hydroperiods, & historic distributions of sheetflow to reestablish ecological connectivity and ecological resilience of the historic wetland/upland mosaic.
* Restore water levels to reduce wildfires associated with altered hydrology, which damage the geomorphic and associated ecological conditions of the western Everglades.
* Restore aquatic low nutrient (oligotrophic) conditions to reestablish and sustain native flora & fauna.
WERP also has opportunities to improve water supply, system-wide operational flexibility
& benefits to estuaries, and to include recreation.
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