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Deadline looms for EPA water pollution rules proposal

By Sascha Cordner

My favorite snapshot of childhood captures joy and triumph. The boy's back is to the camera, to his parents, to a long moment of indecision: "I want to do it, but I don't know if I can! Mom, do you think I can? Dad, do you think I should?"

Yes, and yes. I snapped the photo as he let go of the rope swing and stretched his arms to meet the Suwannee River.

For years, our family and a bunch of other moms, dads and children have celebrated Mother's Day with a canoe trip we call "Rope Swings" down a kid-friendly section of the gentle Suwannee. Talk about Florida attractions. One year, I tallied them in my reporter's notebook: Countless sandbars and beaches for swimming and for mud pies. Three thrill-ride-quality rope swings. One wolf spider guarding its nest of babies. Dozens of river turtles. One gopher tortoise. Hundreds of fish and birds, from an owl to a pair of swallow-tailed kites. One cave, a limestone labyrinth big enough for kids to walk through - a hike in the aquifer.

The cave beach is our favorite stop, for the hike, the culture (one carload of teenagers from Georgia, one grandma in a Confederate-flag bikini), and the many launch pads - bluffs, tree limbs, the granddaddy rope swing hanging from a granddaddy oak. Known as "Five Holes," this is everyone else's favorite, too. People come by canoe or kayak, motorboat or car, to watch aerial athletics: Teenagers flip; dads defy gravity for a second before a big splash; the smallest bodies swing into the sky with fragile grace, my son in the snapshot.

Apparently, we've all loved this place too much. Planning this year's trip, I learned that Five Holes has been shut down to the public. On the landside, no hiking in the limestone, no parking for the teenagers. On the waterside, no swimming and no swinging.

The rope has been severed from the oak with a pole saw. Suwannee River State Park manager Craig Liney sympathized with me when he explained the "multi-agency decision," and I with him. The big swing was dangerous; law-enforcement agencies wanted it gone. The parking was "unofficial," along with everything else about Five Holes. The Florida Department of Health, for example, won't allow a public swimming area without visibility of at least 4 feet. And finally, state scientists say all the scrambling up and down the banks, and in and out of the limestone, is putting too much stress on the iconic river and all-important Floridan Aquifer, source of freshwater for Florida's people, industry and ecosystems.

It's just the sort of reasoned, multi-agency protection our groundwater, rivers and springs deserve. But as I set about finding a new Mother's Day adventure, the evidence that Florida's freshwaters aren't getting that protection was clear as the springs used to be. And I found myself wishing that the state might direct the same vigilance to utilities and agriculture - the two major users of freshwater in Florida - as to river-loving families.

We couldn't head to one former favorite, Gold Head Branch State Park to the east, for the lovely lakeside cabins, bathhouses and pavilions built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s now surround a bone-dry lakebed.

To the west, strike out another past prize, Wakulla Springs south of Tallahassee. The deepest freshwater spring in the world has darkened and become so choked with algae the glass-bottomed boats rarely run anymore. Scientists say human sewage is primarily to blame.

We could join the flotillas on the Ichetucknee, and perhaps we should while we still can: The pane-clear river has lost 25 percent of its flow in the past 50 years. Scientists blame excessive groundwater pumping in northeast Florida and south Georgia.

Across the state, our freshwaters are under unprecedented stress from two well-understood threats: overuse, and pollution. The solutions are also well understood. Swift as a pole saw through braided rope, we could cut the groundwater extractions helping to dry up dozens of inland lakes and springs. And just as the Department of Health protects us from swimming in water with poor visibility, it could defend us against the nitrate pollution spoiling the springs.

Here's what happens instead: The Legislature passed a bill this year that reorganizes the Department of Health to streamline its duties and eliminate requirements that septic tanks be inspected every five years to ensure they're not leaking nitrates.

The multi-agency response to groundwater over-pumping looks like this: St. Johns River water managers in 2011 approved a new permit for Jacksonville's water utility to extract up to 163 million gallons a day - over the objections of Suwannee River water managers who said Jacksonville's withdrawals already present a "continued threat" to the rivers and springs in their district.

Meanwhile, as they watch that threat grow, Suwannee water managers have declined to meter all agricultural water use in their own district. The first step to conservation is figuring out how much everyone's using. But it's not as easy as it sounds when the chairman of the Suwannee River Water Management District Board is also president of the Florida Cattlemen's Association.

Like many agricultural operations, cattle and water require a delicate balance because the industry pumps as well as pollutes. Now before the St. Johns district is a 13-million-gallon-a-day groundwater application from Adena Springs Ranch, a 30,000-acre, grass-fed cattle operation that Canadian billionaire Frank Stronach plans for Marion County. (The entire city of Ocala pumps 12 million gallons a day.) Some scientists worry the withdrawal will harm Florida's famous Silver Springs. Stronach has hired water lawyer Ed de la Parte, who's responded to concerns about dwindling wells, springs and rivers with assurances familiar to anyone who lived through the Tampa Bay Water wars he helped litigate: The current declines are part of Florida's natural drought cycle. Prodigious rains will return; they always have.

The reality is that many computer-climate models show a long-term drying trend for Florida. But the models remain uncertain enough that scientists cannot say whether this year's arid spring will become tomorrow's arid future.

Rather than fight over the last available drops, the wisest way forward would be to work together to use less water and create less pollution.

Our failure to think long-term about Florida's freshwater legacy is a lot like our inability to analyze the risk versus reward of letting children be children in nature. If you think swinging on a rope or swimming in a tea-brown river is risky, consider U.S. childhood obesity, attention-deficit and depression statistics.

Whether by the intended severing of a rope swing, or the unintended ruin of a local spring, when we separate children from their natural waters, we undermine not only their individual healthy development - but the adaptability and resilience of an entire generation.

The future is going to need those traits.

Cynthia Barnett is the author of "Blue Revolution: Unmaking America's Water Crisis" and "Mirage: Florida and the Vanishing Water of the Eastern U.S."

 Once near death due to red tide, manatee released in Bonita 

 

 

 

Written byAndrea Stetson, special to news-press.com

 

The only manatee in Southwest Florida rescued after suffering from red tide this year was released Tuesday in Bonita Springs. The female manatee was rescued Jan. 24 when two kayakers found her upside down in a Bonita estuary. She was rushed to the Miami Seaquarium where she has been recovering.

"We're thrilled she made it through," said Lauren Pacholec, a biologist with Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. "This is a great success story. It's the only one rescued from red tide this winter."

More than two dozen manatee carcasses were removed from waterways after suffering from red tide, but this manatee was found in time to get help.

Workers at the Miami Seaquarium named the mammal Breva, after red tide, which is scientifically known as Karenia brevis. Red tide is a bloom of small microorganisms that produces toxins that affect vertebrate nervous systems.

When Breva arrived at the Miami Seaquarium in January she could barely move. The toxin had paralyzed the manatee.

"She was so weak she couldn't lift her head," said Jodi Tuzinski, animal care manager at the Seaquarium.

The manatee was given antibiotics, put in an apparatus to keep her head above water and monitored by staff. When she arrived she weighed 670 pounds. Now she weighs 880 pounds.

"It's awesome," Tuzinski said. "Anytime we can release one is a great day."

The rescue and release brought together state and local officials and volunteers. Doug Kollmer of Estero and Nick Hoops of Bonita Springs, both graduates of FGCU, found the injured manatee while kayaking in January and called FGCU for help.

"There were a lot of folks that worked hard to make this happen," said Denise Boyd of FWC. "It's a huge team effort."

Breva traveled back to Bonita on Tuesday in a large truck lying on pads and being sprayed with water. It took more than a dozen workers to lift her from the truck and haul her to the water. Once the sling was lowered she slithered under the murky brown water by Bay Water rentals and disappeared.

James Greco, of FGCU undergraduate admissions, videotaped Breva's journey.

"We will use it for admission recruiting," Greco said. "It's good stuff to show what we do at the university."

 
 

The next meeting of the Southwest Florida Watershed Council is scheduled  for Thursday May 17th from 1:30-2:50 p.m. on the campus of Florida Gulf Coast University in the Cohen Center (previously known as the Student Union Building), Room 213 . Parking is free, but you will need to stop by the parking kiosk to pick up a Visitor's Pass. 

 

This month's meeting will be held in conjunction with Dr. Don Duke's Environmental Policy class. Our Water Wisdom Program this month will feature Jacki Lopez, Staff Attorney with The Center for Biological Diversity. Ms. Lopez will be discussing aspects of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 and how it relates to protection of natural resources in Southwest Florida. For more information on the Center for Biological Diversity please visit: http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/

 

All are welcome to attend this free program.

 

The Home Page of the Southwest Florida Watershed Council

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The mission of the Southwest Florida Watershed Council is to protect, conserve, manage and/or restore the land and water resources of the Caloosahatchee and Big Cypress Watersheds. Through increased awareness, participation and cooperation among all stakeholders in consensus building, planning and decision making, we are working to meet the economic, natural and cultural needs for this and succeeding generations.

 

 

 

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 Engineers hope project to raise level of Lake Hancock will help ease Peace River problems  

TheLedger.com
 
BARTOW | In wet years, expect to see more of Lake Hancock. In dry years, expect to see more of the Peace River. That's the plan anyway.
Southwest Florida Water Management District officials are building a new, taller control structure on Saddle Creek south of the lake. It will regulate the lake level and replaces a smaller one built in 1963.
That new $6 million dam-like structure, which is being built by Censtate Contractors of Winter Haven, will allow the lake to rise to 100 feet above sea level. The current apparatus, which cost $65,000 half a century ago, allowed the lake to rise to a maximum elevation of 98.7 feet.
The replacement will keep more water in the 4,519-acre lake so it can be released downstream to keep the Peace River flowing during all but the most serious droughts.
WILL IT WORK ?
Lake Hancock and the upper Peace River are at the mercy of weather and geology.
The highest recorded level was 101.88 feet above sea level on Sept. 16., 1960, following ­Hurricane Donna. The lake-level project will increase the base flood elevation from 102 feet above sea level to 103.85 feet, Swiftmud engineer Scott Letasi said.
The lowest recorded level was 93.98 feet on May 23, 1968, after a sinkhole drained the lake. The lake also declined seriously during the 2000-2001 drought.
Flow in the Peace River at Bartow pretty much reflects the same extremes.
Given that history, one recurring question is whether the lake-level plan will really work.
FACTS:
Lake Hancock Timeline
* 1850: First government survey of Lake Hancock, which likes at the head of the Peace River in an area surrounded by Lakeland, Winter Haven and Bartow.
* 1927: Lakeland sewer plant begins discharging into Stahl Canal, which connects to the 4,500-acre Lake Hancock via Banana Lake and Banana Creek.
* 1952-1968: Phosphate mining under way on east and south sides of Lake Hancock.
* 1960: Lake Hancock reaches 101.88 feet above sea level following Hurricane Donna.
* 1963: Control structure completed on Saddle Creek south of Lake Hancock to regulate lake level, replacing old drainage structure that dates from 1930s.
* 1968: News story mentions suggestion to mine Lake Hancock to ease serious pollution. Sinkhole in lake seriously drops water level to 93.98 feet.
* 1985: State wildlife officials use Lake Hancock as site for experimental alligator hunts as prelude to resumption of legal alligator hunting in Florida. State environmental officials ban pollution discharges from industrial and sewer plants into Lake Lena Run, one of the lake's sources of water.
* 1987: Lakeland halts sewer discharges into Lake Hancock via Banana Lake.
* 1986-88: Consultant studies feasibility of mining Lake Hancock bottom to aid restoration, concludes it's not feasible.
* 1989: Major fish kill leaves an estimated 1 million fish dead.
* 2000: Drought hits Lake Hancock, leaving lake bottom parched.
* 2001: Circle B Bar Reserve along Lake Hancock purchased.
* 2002: Southwest Florida Water Management District officials begin discussing raising lake's level to as high as 100.5 feet above sea level.
* 2004: Lake Hancock level reaches 101.5 feet above sea level following series of hurricanes.
* 2007: Swiftmud governing board votes for project to raise Lake Hancock level from 98.7 feet "up to" 100 feet above sea level. Plan proposed for recreational uses of land around lake, including trail system and boat ramp.
* 2008: Swiftmud begins buying 32 homes and 8,000 acres of land in areas expected to flood as a result of higher regulated lake level. Tab comes to $118 million, though some of land will be sold to recoup part of the cost.
* 2011: Work begins on development of filter marshes on south side of lake to clean up water flowing downstream.
* 2012: Work begins on replacement of structure south of lake to allow for higher lake level as part of plan to use Lake Hancock as a reservoir to maintain minimum flow in Peace River. Plans for boat ramp shelved.

   Work approved to upgrade levees dividing western Broward County from Everglades

 
Sun Sentinel - by Andy Reid
 
The South Florida Water Management District has approved about $18 million of work to upgrade the levee that protects Broward County from getting flooded by the Everglades.
That's more than the $13-$15 million once projected to beef up the earthen structure that guards against flooding of Coral Springs, Weston and other western communities.
The 38-mile-long Broward section of the East Coast Protective Levee falls short of federal safety standards, which raises safety concerns and could lead to increased flood insurance costs if repairs aren't made.
The district has a two-year window to make levee fixes before the Federal Emergency Management Agency triggers regulatory changes that could increase South Florida flood insurance costs.
On Thursday, the district's board OKed the selection of two contractors tapped to handle levee improvements.
The work involves: building filter berms and drains, flattening levee side slopes, reconstructing access ramps for ongoing maintenance and re-compacting the top of the levee after work is finished.
District Director of Operations Tommy Strowd said selecting contractors was the next step in keeping the agency on track with meeting FEMA's two-year timeline.
About $11 million of the project contracts go to Arbor Tree & Land Inc. of Lake Worth, according to the proposal endorsed Thursday.
A $7 million phase of the project goes to GlobeTec Construction of Deerfield Beach, according to the proposal.
The Sun Sentinel in 2010 reported that the Broward section of the levee failed to meet FEMA certification standards.
In 2011, the Army Corps of Engineers finalized its review of the entire 100-mile East Coast Protective Levee and also called for repairs. The corps found the levee minimally acceptable, the middle tier on the federal government's new three-tiered levee-rating system.
Inspectors' concerns about the levee include: erosion, levees being too low, overgrown vegetation obstructing maintenance, fencing and gates in disrepair, slopes being too steep and culverts needing repair.
The East Coast Protective Levee, built in the 1950s, stretches across western Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties. It was built with limestone, shell and soil dug from the edge of the Everglades.
A levee that once bordered mainly farmland, now sits next to neighborhoods that spread west after decades of sprawling development.
The district maintains that the levee is structurally sound and remains able to protect against flooding while the upgrades are made.