WRAC WORKSHOP: INTERIM SOLUTIONS FOR IMPROVING

PERFORMANCE OF THE CENTRAL & SOUTHERN FLORIDA SYSTEM - aka More Dry Season Water to the Caloosahatchee

Tuesday, July 10, 2012, 9:00 AM

 

SFWMD Clewiston Field Station

2425 Hookers Point Road

Clewiston, FL 33440

 

 

  

 

 

Interim Solutions for Improving Performance of Adaptive Protocols -  Link to presentation on this subject to GB at last meeting.

  

Water Supply Augmentation/Supplemental Environmental Flows

 

(EWSA6 Analysis) - Presentations by  Cal Neidrauer, P.E., Chief Engineer, South Florida Water Management District and Susan Gray Ph.D., Chief

Scientist, South Florida Water Management District

 

Potential interim solution until CERP storage areas are constructed and operable

 

• WSA concept is to allow EAA runoff to flow back to Lake Okeechobee during specific conditions in order to increase water storage and supply capability

 

§Not the same as historical flood control "backpumping".

WSA has much lower frequency, volumes and loads

EAA BMPs have considerably improved water quality

 

§Not the same as historical water supply "backpumping"

 

WSA can benefit multiple uses, primarily environmental water supply

 

 

 

Summary of Simulation Modeling Results

Preliminary simulation model analysis of Water Supply Augmentation & Supplemental Environmental Flows to the Caloosahatchee Estuary shows:

 

 

Improved Performance :

 

Caloosahatchee Estuary

Significantly reduces high salinity months

Lake O MFL Rule exceedances (fewer exceedances)

Lake O Service Area water supply ( fewer water shortage cutbacks)

 

A Closer Look At Possible Adverse Impacts Shows:

 

TP & TN Load increases to Lake O, but is relatively small and has minor, if any, affect on Lake O water chemistry

Minor affect on WCA water levels & flows to ENP

 

 

Link to Governing Board meeting videos, adendas and presentations. This issue was discussed at the June 14th meeting. 

 

 

 

Editorial: No choice needed between environment and jobs 

"This integrated plan will clean up water to protect the unique wetland system that makes up the Everglades Protection Area," said District Executive Director Meeker. "With a firm commitment to design, construct and operate a comprehensive and science-based suite of remedies, the District is taking a landmark step toward meeting the water quality needs of America's Everglades. We will continue to work closely with our federal partners to finalize and implement these important projects."

Highlights of the strategies include:

• Design, construction and completion of 90 percent (99,000 acre-feet) of the required associated storage within four years. Capable of storing 32 billion gallons of water, the Flow Equalization Basins will be located adjacent to existing stormwater treatment areas in the Everglades. This advanced combination of "green" technologies will better optimize water deliveries to new and existing treatment facilities, allowing water managers to treat runoff to extremely low levels of phosphorus for the first time in the state's environmental history.
• Doubling the size of Stormwater Treatment Area 1-West adjacent to the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge. The District will construct 4,700 acres of additional treatment by 2018 and start construction on another 1,800 acres that same year. This expansion spanning ten square miles will increase by 50 percent the treatment capacity of water quality facilities currently discharging into the Refuge.
• Improving treatment in the western Everglades by adding 11,000 acre-feet of associated storage in the C-139 Basin that is capable of storing 3.5 billion gallons.
• Improving the operation of existing treatment wetlands in the western Everglades by retrofitting 800 acres of constructed wetlands in Stormwater Treatment Area 5.
• State-issued and enforceable Everglades Forever Act and Clean Water Act permits, including stringent discharge limits, for each of the District's stormwater treatment areas.
• A robust science plan to ensure continued biological, ecological and operational research to improve and optimize the performance of water quality treatment technologies. The District's constructed wetlands and flow equalization basins utilize cutting-edge science and engineering and are the largest of their kind in the nation.
• Utilizing thousands of acres of land already in public ownership, which minimizes impacts to Florida's agricultural-based economy and accelerating construction of new projects.
• Regional source controls in areas of the eastern Everglades where phosphorus levels in runoff has been historically higher.
•  
  Creation of approximately 1,550 direct jobs and 15,350 indirect jobs through construction of these facilities.

To protect the Everglades' unique makeup of flora and fauna, the Department established a stringent phosphorus water quality standard of 10 parts per billion (ppb). This ultra-low phosphorus limit for the Everglades is six times cleaner than rainfall and 100 times lower than limits established for discharges from industrial facilities.

To reduce nutrient pollution to the Everglades and achieve state and federal water quality requirements, the District constructed massive treatment wetlands known as Stormwater Treatment Areas that use plants to naturally remove phosphorus from water flowing into the Everglades. State law also requires best management practices on the 640,000 acres of agricultural land south of Lake Okeechobee.

More than 45,000 acres-or 70 square miles-of treatment area are today operational and treating water to average phosphorus levels of less than 40 ppb and as low as 12 ppb. The District is completing construction of an additional 11,500 acres this month. Together with best farming practices, stormwater treatment areas have prevented more than 3,800 tons of phosphorus from entering the Everglades since 1994. This past year, the treatment wetlands treated 735,000 acre-feet of water and reduced the total phosphorus loads to the Everglades Protection Area by 79 percent.

This plan to improve water quality builds upon Florida's $1.8 billion investment in Everglades water quality improvements to ensure achievement of the 10 ppb ambient water quality standard for the Everglades Protection Area. The schedule for implementing new projects balances economic realities with engineering, permitting, science and construction limitations. The plan proposes to utilize a combination of state and district revenues to complete the projects.

  Cape Coral reservoir, filter marsh proposed

Written by Thomas Stewart, News-Press

From having to pump potable water into its overstretched reclaimed system recently to concerns over excess nutrients running into Matlacha Pass, Cape Coral has its fair share of water woes to handle.

Cape councilman Kevin McGrail said he's hoping to put a dent in a few of those issues with two proposed projects in the northwest.

McGrail said he's looking into the possibility of turning one patch of land along Gator Slough, just east of Burnt Store Road, into an open-air reservoir and another across the street into a filter marsh.

Water from the reservoir, which would be located on land purchased by the city in its April acquisition of 652 acres, could be used to supplement the city's irrigation water supply - which also is needed for firefighting in some areas - and could also be pumped into mangroves to the west struggling with increased salinity levels, he said.

That project, he said, could be at least partially funded by selling the dirt removed to create the water body to the nearby Pine Island Road and Burnt Store Road expansion projects, state and county projects scheduled in the next few years.

"We've got a ready-made buyer for that dirt," he said. "No one can truck for less; we're right there."

The filter marsh, he said, could tackle some of the issues - including excess nutrients being deposited in the mangroves along the north spreader canal system - involved in the Ceitus boat lift discussion between the City Council and the Lee County Commission.

Engineering of the marsh could potentially be paid for with a mix of funds from the city, the South Florida Water Management District and the county, including the Conservation 20/20 program.

Randy Smith, spokesman for the water management district, said the marshes work by pumping and channeling the incoming water flow to evenly disperse it across the wetland, where native plants soak up phosphorus and nitrogen before the filtered product is released back to the surrounding system.

Smith said the district has helped establish more than 50,000 acres of the marshes, which have been overwhelmingly successful.

Such a marsh is currently being crafted at a cost of $1.8 million at Powell Creek Preserve in North Fort Myers with the help of the district.

County Commissioner Frank Mann, one of two representatives from the commission tapped to deal with the Ceitus boat lift issue, said he hasn't been briefed on the proposal, but knows the potential benefit of the wetlands.

"The concept is a good one and is certainly consistent with what we've looked at before," Mann said.

Pine Island environmental activist Phil Buchanan said he's also in favor of the idea, although he doesn't believe it'll help the mangroves as much as McGrail hopes.

Either way, the two sides need to figure out what to do soon, he said, because the area's fishing and tourism industries are at stake.

"If we lose our clean water, our fishing and, of course, our pristine boating, we lose our economy," he said. "We don't have much else."

https://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/eventReg?llr=fqsu6ldab&oeidk=a07e63joxn6e67717b3&oseq=

Register

  

 Health advisory sign at Lewis Chisom Park on the north fork of the New River warns of trace amounts of mercury in fish. (Susan Stocker, Sun Sentinel / June 5, 2012)

The Cape Sable Seaside Sparrow (Ammodramus maritimus mirabilis) is a sub-species of Seaside Sparrow endemic to southern Florida. The largest populations are found in Taylor Slough in Everglade National Park and in the Big Cypress Swamp. The species is considered endangered due to habitat loss from vegetation changes, fire, development, alteration of water flow, and hurricanes.

Cape Sable seaside sparrows are small birds about 13 centimeters or 5 inches long. Dorsally, they are dark olive-gray with olive-brown on the tail and wings. The greenish cast on the nape is generally difficult to detect. Ventrally, adults are light gray to almost white with dark olive-gray streaks on the breast and sides. Occasionally, the breast streaks converge forming a diffuse central spot. There is a dark whisker on either side of the white throat. These sparrows have yellow lores, brown eyes, and a gray ear patch behind the eye which is fringed by a dark line. There is a small patch of yellow on the edge of the wing. No sexual differences in the plumages are obvious.