South Florida, low-lying and smack in the middle of Hurricane Alley, has the greatest number of people and places at risk from rising sea levels, according to a new report released on Wednesday.

The report from Climate Central, an independent research and journalism organization, suggests Miami-Dade and Broward counties alone have more people vulnerable to flooding than any state except Florida and Louisiana.

The “Surging Seas” report, which echoes and expands on previous studies by universities and government agencies that have pinpointed South Florida as ground zero for global warming impacts, can be found at climatecentral.org. It includes an interactive map that can zoom in to show which communities would inundated under different potential levels of sea level rise.

The analysis was based on a projected potential rise of four feet, with increased damage from hurricane storm surge and flooding from seasonal high tides compounding the threats.

Overall, Florida also ranks as the most vulnerable to sea level rise, with some 2.4 million people, 1.3 million homes and 107 cities at risk from a four foot rise, according to the report. Louisiana, by comparison, has 65 cities below the four-foot mark. New Jersey and North Carolina have 22 each, Maryland 14 and New York 13.

The study projects that under current trends, the most vulnerable areas could see increased flooding as early as 2030. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, an international science panel, officially estimates that the average sea level could rise from seven to about 24 inches by 2100 but notes it could be higher under some scenarios.

Everglades restoration project could also boost Broward drinking water supplies

A long-proposed Broward County water preserve could boost Broward drinking water supplies and create more of a buffer between the Everglades and Weston, Pembroke Pines and other western communities. (South Florida Sun Sentinel file photo)

By Andy Reid, Sun Sentinel

6:39 p.m. EST, February 19, 2012

A proposed Broward County water preserve that could boost local drinking water supplies and help the Everglades may get sunk again by congressional inaction.

Local backers had hoped to get Congress this year to sign off on the long-planned, nearly $900 million Broward County Water Preserve Area, bordering Weston, Pembroke Pines, Southwest Ranches and Miramar.

Supporters are still pushing for a vote, but with election-year fighting adding to partisan paralysis in Washington, plans for the water preserve threaten to remain stuck on the shelf.

"Clean water is a No. 1 concern of voters. … If we can just get (Congress) to see that," said Cara Capp, of the environmental group Clean Water Action.

Stories about pythons and Labrador retrievers usually don’t end well for the dogs. But the story of Jake and Ivy, black labs trained to hunt pythons in the Everglades, had a happyending for all concerned — except the snakes.

"I was amazed," said Christina Romagosa, a research fellow at Auburn University. "The dogs definitely knew what they were doing."

Auburn’s Eco Dog detection program recently released details of a multi-agency pilot project. After months of training, which included curbing the dogs’ instincts to swim and get too close to their targets, Jake and Ivy hit the Everglades in November 2010.

With noses down and tails wagging, the dogs found 19 pythons, most between 6 and 8 feet long and one pregnant with 19 eggs. And it turned out the dogs were 2 1/2 times more likely to find a snake and twice as fast at it as teams of human hunters, who had to rely on their vision alone to locate the well-camouflaged and very still reptiles.

Some methods used to train the dogs are "trade secrets," said Craig Angle, the associate director of veterinary sports medicine at Auburn who helped with the process. Some techniques are similar to training an elite athlete for endurance and strength, he said.

The dogs learned the scent from coffee filters that had been rubbed on pythons of various sizes. Then they worked with pythons in bags. They traveled to the University of Florida, where they worked with live pythons in large enclosures. Finally, they went into the Everglades, where they were trained to detect radio-tagged pythons in controlled areas.

"One time the dog found a radio-tagged snake and the dog was telling us it’s here," Romagosa said. "Where? We couldn’t find it and we checked the radio signal and it was right at our feet."

The dogs had to learn about wind currents and how trees break up the wind scent. They learned to work in tall grass and short grass. Most important, they learned to sit and stay when they were about 15 feet from the snake — "out of the strike zone," Angle said.

Then, they learned that a job well done is rewarded — with a Kong, a red rubber chew toy that can be filled with treats.

"That’s what they live for," Angle said.

The snakes that were caught were turned over to a National Park Service biologist. Some were euthanized. Some were tagged with radio devices for further study and tracking. Others were donated to The Nature Conservancy for staff training on how to catch snakes.

Auburn University’s Canine Detection Research Institute is the largest training and detection research program outside of the federal government, said Todd Steury, the program’s co-founder, who said he had expected the dogs to find more pythons.

The EcoDogs program was started about three years ago and since then has trained dogs to detect the scent of endangered and invasive species from their leavings and most recently to find a destructive tree fungus as much as three feet underground.

Despite Jake and Ivy’s success and a recent report by the National Academy of Sciences that found a correlation between the burgeoning python population in the Everglades and severe declines in mammals, the pilot project ended and the dogs returned to Auburn. There are no plans or funds to continue it, the researchers said.

Ivy, who is over 6 years old, retired and was adopted. Jake, 4, has been retrained to detect newborn deer fawns and antlers that have been shed.

"What happens next?" Romagosa asked. "We need to decide if this is a useful tool worth funding."

 

 

Joe Cavaretta / Sun Sentinel

• Photo

By Andy Reid

Sun Sentinel

The clock is officially ticking on repairs needed to upgrade the levee that keeps the Everglades from flooding Broward and Palm Beach counties.

February triggered the start of the South Florida Water Management District’s two-year window to fix the Broward section of the East Coast Protective Levee, which falls short of federal safety standards.

The district, Broward County and eight western cities now have three months to finalize an agreement aimed at getting the levee up to the standards of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Inspectors have also identified deficiencies in the Palm Beach County portion of the levee, which will be subject to its own FEMA review – also expected to require upgrades.

 

Bruce Ritchie, 03/15/2012 - 05:01 PM

 

Select Committee on Water Policy Chairwoman Trudi Williams, R-Fort Myers, guides the committee. She says she's considering a run for Senate. Photo Credit: Florida House of Representatives 3-11-11

A House committee chairwoman said Thursday that her committee's bill to extend the length of water-use permits seemed like a "no-brainer" and she was surprised it died without a vote in the Senate.

HB 7045 by the Select Committee on Water Policy would have extended permits for alternative water supply projects from at least 20 years to at least 30 years in state law. Supporters said the bill would have encouraged water utilities to protect scarce water supplies by making it easier and cheaper for them to borrow money for water projects.

The bill passed the House 116-0 on Feb. 15 and was never taken up in the Senate. The Senate companion, SB 1178, passed three committees but died awaiting action at its final stop, the Senate Budget Committee.

If the state approves the $47 million plan, it means the aquifer would be depleted a little more slowly. But it also means people in the tri-county area could be drinking treated wastewater every time they turn on the tap.

The concept of recharging the aquifer with treated sewage isn't new, but the city's project is different, said Rick Nevulis, a water reuse coordinator with the South Florida Water Management District. Pembroke Pines will inject the water directly into the ground. West Palm Beach, Sunrise, Tindall Hammock, Pahokee, Wellington and Homestead pump their purified sewage into wetlands, lakes or fields, where it percolates into the aquifer over a period of months or years.

Those six utilities now pump a combined 6.5 million gallons of purified sewage into the water supply each day. Pembroke Pines' plan would double that.

This is a long time coming, Nevulis said. The rest of the state already pumps much of its sewage back into its water supplies, and South Florida is behind.

Only about 71 million gallons of the approximately 640 million gallons of sewage the tri-county area produces each day gets reused in any way, and almost all of that goes toward irrigation.

The plan does have an "ick" factor, admitted City Manager Charles Dodge. But he guarantees the water will be pure and drinkable.

"The water will be very, very well treated," he said. "It's not as if you would know it went through this process."

Pembroke Pines' 7 million gallons a day may go into the ground in the city, but there's no way of telling where it will come out, said Harold Wanless, professor and chair of geological sciences at the University of Miami.

"Aquifers flow," Wanless said. "It's difficult to tell where any particular water will move to. We don't have the large conduits inside the aquifer well mapped."

The plan is necessary to regain the city's water use permit from the South Florida Water Management District. The aquifer — a 4,000 square mile system of underground limestone caves filled with water — is running low and the district has ordered that utilities come up with additional sources of water.

As South Florida's regional water management agency, the South Florida Water Management District is responsible for providing flood control, restoring natural systems and ensuring a sustainable water supply for more than 7.7 million residents.

This can be a daunting task. One of the most challenging aspects of water management in South Florida is not the 50-plus inches of rain that falls in our backyards each year. Rather, it is finding a place to store that water for beneficial use during dry times.

South Florida's flat landscape means that when it rains, without storage, water must be discharged through our extensive canal system to the ocean to prevent flooding. To capture this "lost" water and use it to support Everglades restoration and regional water supply needs, the district is working hard to identify and implement storage solutions. These can come in many shapes and sizes, from aboveground reservoirs and deep injection wells to shallow storage on agricultural lands.

A unique geological formation in Palm Beach County is providing us with one of the more creative water storage solutions. The 950-acre L-8 reservoir is a strategically located former rock mine with a watertight geology. A component of Everglades restoration, this deep-ground reservoir will contribute to cleaner water for the Everglades, restoration of the Loxahatchee River and improved water quality in the Lake Worth Lagoon. Along with environmental benefits, it also offers residential advantages such as flood control and supplementing urban water supplies.

Approved in 2002, this first-of-its-kind project provides 15 billion gallons of water storage, enough to fill 24,000 football fields one foot deep in water. And, at an investment of $6,000 per acre-foot, the rock mine saves taxpayers millions of dollars compared to constructing an aboveground reservoir.

Since its acquisition, various criticisms have been leveled at the L-8 reservoir. The fact is that this reservoir is a viable project capable of delivering results and the return on investment we expect to achieve. When I became the district's executive director last June, I prioritized this project to get it operating as promised. Here's the good news: The district has now issued a Request for Qualifications from firms to design and build the massive pump station needed to move water out of the reservoir and deliver it to the natural system. This is a giant leap forward, and it means we are on our way to project completion — and project results.

It's important to note that instead of sitting idle, the L-8 reservoir has provided interim benefits. During the 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons, the reservoir provided much-needed water storage that reduced residential flooding.

In 2007, the City of West Palm Beach utilized more than 600 million gallons of water from the reservoir during the drought. Residents were again able to rely on the L-8 reservoir for their water supply this past summer when the city's water resources ran dangerously low. In 2009, FPL used reservoir water for its cooling system, conserving millions of gallons of groundwater. And, most recently, the district utilized small pumps to send fresh water from the reservoir north to the Loxahatchee River during 2011's dry conditions. This pilot project demonstrated that the L-8 reservoir works.

Nearby to the L-8 project, another rock pit is under construction. Known as the C-51 reservoir, this project is being analyzed by the district and a coalition of utilities as a potential public water supply source. Under the right conditions, the C-51 could potentially store water currently lost to tide and deliver it to recharge wellfields. Similar to the L-8 project, it is a viable concept that could be utilized to effectively meet future water supply demands and improve the Lake Worth Lagoon. While the challenges are in the details, the project deserves a thorough evaluation and our continued dialogue.

Balancing the district's missions of flood control, water supply and restoration often requires innovative thinking, which both of these reservoirs represent. Add in creative partnerships, perseverance and continued collaboration, and we have a formula for success.

Melissa L. Meeker is the executive director of the South Florida Water Management District.

Blue Spring. Photo Credit: systemslibrarian

Former U.S. Sen. Bob Graham and Nathaniel P. Reed of Hobe Sound were among the speakers in November during an environmental rally outside the Capitol. They called on Gov. Rick Scott to show leadership on environmental issues and for the Legislature to undo some of the harmful law and budget changes they said occurred during 2011. Environmentalists didn't get what they were calling for, but they may have somewhat begun to turn the tide that has been running against the programs they support. Any success those groups enjoyed during the 2012 session may be better measured not by what was passed as by what didn't pass. Efforts to restrict local fertilizer ordinances and to encourage oil drilling on state lands failed. Other bills were modified to gain environmental support. However, a bill repealing the statewide requirement for septic tank inspections passed. The Sierra Club and Florida Stormwater Association opposed the bill's new restrictions on local septic tank inspection programs. Meanwhile, visitors to state trails and state parks could see advertising and herds of African wildlife. The Florida Forever land-buying program and Everglades restoration received some funding, but not as much as environmentalists had hoped. 

KEY ISSUES

TRAILS, STATE LANDS: SB 268, which is headed to the governor, allows businesses and groups to sponsor trails and put their advertisements at trailheads. The bill still faces opposition because it allows the Department of Environmental Protection to negotiate agreements for trails other than the seven identified in the bill. … HB 1117, which is headed to the governor, would allow giraffes, elephants, rhinos and other zoo animals to roam state parks with approval by the Cabinet.  .... A provision in SB 1998, a budget conforming bill related to transportation that is headed to the governor, requires an expedited hearing process for a legal challenge to the proposed dredging in Biscayne Bay to deepen the port of Miami. ... HB 1103, which environmentalists opposed as a state-lands giveaway by changing the definition of submerged state lands, stalled after its first committee stop. ... HB 695, encouraging oil and gas exploration and drilling on state lands, died on the House calendar.

WATER QUALITY: The 2010 requirement for septic tank inspections statewide will be repealed if Gov. Rick Scott signs HB 1263. That Department of Health reorganization bill contained the language from HB 599. The bill also places limits on local septic tank inspection programs, prohibits inspection requirements when a home is sold, and prohibits local ordinances requiring advanced "performance-based" septic tanks until a DOH study is completed. … The Legislature in HB 7051 waived approval of water quality rules proposed by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. Those rules, which face a legal challenge filed by environmental groups, would replace federal rules that utilities and industry groups oppose. The bill was signed by Scott on Feb. 16. … There was a fight again this year between environmentalists and the landscaping industry over local fertilizer regulations. SB 604, exempting certified landscaping professionals from local ordinances, was killed by the Senate Committee on Environmental Preservation and Conservation by a 4-3 vote.

WATER POLICY AND PERMITTING: HB 503 resembled an environmental permit streamlining bill that passed the House last year but wasn't voted on in the Senate. Rep. Jimmy Patronis, R-Panama City, was praised by environmentalists for resolving a variety of concerns. The bill also fixes 2010 recycling legislation that would have allowed counties to claim recycling rates in excess of 100 percent. … Environmentalists also backed HB 639 dealing with treated wastewater after an objectionable provision was removed. The bill encourages the use of such "reclaimed water" by exempting it from water management district permitting. … HB 1389, which would exempt landowners from wetland regulations for participating in environmental water storage programs, passed during the final day of the session. … HB 7003 directs the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to undertake writing a statewide Environmental Resource Permit rule. … HB 7045 allowing permits for up to 37 years for alternative water supply projects passed the House 116-0 but wasn't taken up by the Senate.

BUDGET: SB 1986, a budget conforming bill that lifts the property tax revenue caps imposed in 2011 by the Legislature, passed the House and Senate. The Florida Conservation Coalition initially opposed a requirement in the bill for legislative approval but dropped its opposition after the language was modified … After vetoing Florida Forever spending authority last year, Gov. Rick Scott requested $15 million for the program in fiscal year 2012-13. The Legislature provided $8.3 million. … Scott also requested $40 million for Everglades restoration. The Legislature provided $30 million for Everglades restoration plus $5 million for the northern Everglades (north of Lake Okeechobee) and estuaries programs. ... The budget also includes $10 million for beach sand restoration projects, $4.8 million in debt service towards a $50-million wastewater plant in the Florida Keys, $5.6 million for St. Johns River restoration projects, $125 million for petroleum contamination sites and $4.8 million for Lake Apopka restoration.

AGRICULTURE: HB 1197, which gives the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services sole authority to regulate beekeeping, is on its way to the governor. Language from other bills that were languishing was added to HB 1197, including an exemption from local government stormwater fees for farms. Citrus harvesting equipment and fruit loaders would be added to the list of farming vehicles that are exempt from paying state motor fuel taxes. The beekeeping provisions of HB 1197 were prompted by local restrictions on beekeeping cropping up in some suburban areas. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is calling for a veto because of a Senate amendment the group says would allow chicks and bunnies to be sold at Easter and then discarded. ... HB 1237, which returns the executive director of the Department of Citrus to being an appointed position without Senate confirmation, also is headed to the governor.

 

A comprehensive list of Environment and Natural Resources legislation that was passed during the 2012 Regular Session can be found here.

 

Reporter Bruce Ritchie can be reached at britchie@thefloridacurrent.com.

  

Re the March 7 editorial, Hands off our water: I would like to address a few key points regarding discussions with our partners to find a new site for the Miami-Dade County Fair & Exposition, which currently is located on land adjacent to our Modesto A. Maidique Campus.

Particularly, I’d like to emphasize that FIU has never proposed to move the Urban Development Boundary or pursue incompatible land use outside of it. This university has always been committed to protecting the natural resources of our region. Indeed, our faculty is made up of some of the foremost experts on Everglades restoration and protection. Our sole purpose has been to find an available and agreeable site for relocation of the fair, so that FIU may grow into the 86 acres the fair currently occupies, just south   of FIU’s campus. The Bird Drive Basin site also presents an opportunity to establish a new legacy park for area residents on the rest of the property.

The Bird Drive Basin property, located about six miles west of campus, was originally acquired by the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) for the purpose of water management and conservation. As we explored — together with county and fair officials — 16 possible new locations for the fair, we learned that the SFWMD had placed the Bird Drive Basin property on the surplus land list. In November 2011, we began discussions with them about the possibility of relocating the fair to a section of that property.

We look forward to ongoing talks with Mayor Carlos A. Gimenez, county commissioners, state legislators and fair officials as well as a public process to find a win-win resolution that will allow this community’s only public research university to grow, prosper and provide access while preserving the fair and protecting our precious natural resources.

Mark B. Rosenberg,

president, FIU

 

 

An unusual legislative maneuver intended to push the accelerator on PortMiami’s Deep Dredge project, which has been indefinitely stalled pending an environmental review, could quickly encounter a speed bump.

The measure would force such reviews to be held within 30 days — but environmentalists question whether it will hold up in court. James Porter, a Miami attorney representing environmentalists challenging a state permit for the controversial $150 million dredging project, called the effort to rewrite rules and then apply them retroactively “extremely uncommon.”

The measure, attached to an important transportation bill, was expected to pass in the last hours of the session Friday. It would go into effect once signed by Gov. Rick Scott, potentially forcing an administrative challenge now set for August to be moved months earlier.

“From my perspective, this is highly prejudicial,” said Porter, whose clients include Audubon Society, Biscayne Bay Waterkeeper and Miami Beach fishing captain Dan Kipnis.

One of the measure’s supporters, House Majority Leader Carlos Lopez-Cantera, R-Miami, said he was not concerned about potential legal challenges, which he dismissed as “another stall tactic” from environmentalists. “The language doesn’t stop them from having the ability to be heard,” Lopez-Cantera said. “It just speeds up the process.”

Lopez-Cantera said he was confident the measure, which he said was drafted by Miami-Dade County attorneys and reviewed by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, would hold up. The measure doesn’t specifically mention PortMiami but it was written to force a quicker administrative hearing.

Porter called the accusations of foot-dragging “hogwash.” The groups were unable to formally appeal the permit to allow the dredging until a draft version was issued in November. He said the request was filed within a 14-day window.

Timing of the dredging is important for port managers. With a tunnel under Government Cut to give trucks better access and a new freight rail system coming on line, the plan was to complete the dredging in 2014. That would open up Miami for a new class of mega-sized cargo ships at the same time when the Panama Canal, which is also undergoing an overhaul, will also be able to handle such cargo.

The project is a priority for both Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez and the governor. In his first months in office. Scott took the unusual step of pledging to cover the $75 million federal share in the project, with hopes that Congress will pay the state back.

Environmentalists contend the state and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers haven’t set strict enough water quality standards to minimize silting damage surrounding sea grass beds and reefs and warn that weeks of blasting to deepen the channel could harm marine life. Port managers, as well as state and federal agencies overseeing the job, insist most impacts will be short-lived and minimal, pointing out a smaller dredging project a few years ago that left no lingering scars to surrounding areas.

Port Director Bill Johnson, who calls the dredging critical to an ambitious $2 billion port overhaul, said the plan had already been exhaustively and repeatedly reviewed. Port managers weren’t being the “bad guys,” he said, but trying to ensure the success of a project that could help produce thousands of new jobs.

“This is not something that has just been pulled out of the rabbit’s hat,” he said. “Thirteen years this project has been around. Let’s be honest, this is nothing new.”

But Kipnis, a charter captain and activist, said the preliminary permit Florida environmental regulators issued includes variances that will allow contractors to produce “mixing zones” that are five times larger and more turbid than typically allowed. Kipnis called the maneuver a blatant power play. “This is like old time Chicago politics.”