"Water districts respond to former board members who wrote Gov. Scott" @flcurrent

The chairs of the state's five water management districts say their agencies are focused on the "prudent use of taxpayer dollars" rather than on raising taxes.

They wrote a letter on Monday in response to a missive sent to Gov. Rick Scott last week by 20 former board members of the districts . The former board members asked the governor to restore funding for the districts in the wake of cuts last year imposed by legislation.

The Legislature this year lifted the spending caps, but the districts have proposed keeping the same or slightly lower tax rates under reported pressure from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. A DEP spokesman said this month the department "collaborated" with the districts to hold down the cost of living for Florida residents.

The former board members, in their letter last week, described the economic benefits of proper water management and threats to future water supplies from a growing population. They point out that the owner of a $150,000 home in the South Florida Water Management District saved less than $20 in taxes paid because of the cuts last year.

They suggested the option of allowing "some discretion" for each of the five districts to adopt tax rates needed "to accomplish their core mission."

The five chairmen responded Monday that past spending on land acquisition, building expansions and local partnership projects had built good will but also had led to unrealistic growth their agencies' sizes along with salaries and benefits that exceeded those of state employees.

"Today, in a different fiscal climate, the governor and Legislature are focused on prudent use of taxpayer dollars and not increasing the burden of more government and higher taxes on Florida’s citizens," the letter stated.

The chairmen pointed to projects under way this year in each of the districts that when combined provide almost $1 billion towards restoration and water conservation. In addition, the South Florida Water Management District is moving "aggressively" forward on the governor's plan to spend $880 million over 12 years on Everglades restoration, including $87.6 million in this year's budget.

The board chairmen said they were pleased that the Legislature lifted the revenue caps.

"This will allow our budgets to grow as Florida’s economy grows -- rather than increasing the burden on current taxpayers," they wrote.

Eric Buermann, a former South Florida Water Management District board member, said he and some of the others who signed the letter last week were disappointed and taken aback that the governor did not personally respond.

"The districts are driven now right out of Tallahassee," Buermann said. "Anybody who doesn't think that is kidding themselves."

-Bruce Ritchie

"Former water board members urge Scott to restore funding" @MiamiHerald

A letter to Gov. Rick Scott asks him to restore pending cuts to the budgets of Florida’s water management districts responsible for the water supply and Everglades restoration.

By CURTIS MORGAN

Twenty former governing board members of Florida’s water management districts are urging Gov. Rick Scott to reverse another round of pending budget cuts.

In a letter sent to Scott Monday, they urged the governor to “restore adequate funding’’ for the five regional agencies responsible for the water supply, flood control and many environmental protection projects, including Everglades restoration.

The Florida Legislature this year removed a year-old revenue cap that had slashed district budgets statewide by 30 percent, a move environmental groups had hoped would restore some of the lost funding. Instead, water district governing boards, who are appointed by the governor, have continued cutting back, rather than holding the line or raising property tax rates to previous levels.

The South Florida Water Management District, for example, which just settled a long-running federal lawsuit by agreeing to $880 million in new projects to reduce the flow of pollution in the Everglades, gave preliminary approval to a $600 million budget that includes another 2 percent cut in its property tax rate. That follows a $100 million cut last year. A final budget hearing is scheduled for Sept. 25.

The former board members, including Miami attorney Eric Buermann, who was the South Florida district’s chairman under former Gov. Charlie Crist, argued the cuts save property owners a small amount at a large cost for important programs like Glades restoration, and alternative water supply projects. A Miami-Dade property owner of a $150,000 home paid $62.40 in district taxes in 2011. This latest proposed roll-back will reduce that to $42.89.

The governor’s office did not respond to a call and an email for comment about the letter, which echoes complaints from environmental groups. But in announcing final state approval last week of the Everglades pollution cleanup plan reached with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Scott said the plan was to pay for the work with existing state and district revenues “without raising or creating new costs for Floridians.’’

"Former water district director points upstream for cause of Apalachicola Bay's seafood woes"

Bruce Ritchie
09/17/2012 - 03:46 PM

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been keeping a big federal reservoir on the Chattahoochee River relatively full while Florida has been receiving minimum flows downstream on the Apalachicola River, according to a former Florida state official.

Gov. Rick Scott on Sept. 6 requested a fishery disaster declaration from federal officials. The governor says an ongoing drought and over-harvesting of undersized oysters has left few oysters in Apalachicola Bay, with 2,500 seafood worker jobs in Franklin County at risk.

Former Northwest Florida Water Management District Executive Director Douglas Barr points to Army Corps of Engineers operating procedures that hold back water in reservoirs.

Likewise, the Los Angeles Times on Monday reported that unlike the drought four years ago, Georgia officials are acting like the drought now doesn't exist -- and they are not ordering significant conservation measures.

Barr said the Apalachicola River has been at or below a near-minimum flow 52 percent of days since May 2011. Since 1928, that low flow occurred only 2.6 percent of the time.

At the same time, the big Lake Lanier reservoir on the Chattahoochee River was on average 81 percent of full capacity and has not dropped below 70 percent this year. The Army Corps of Engineers can continue to restrict flows to Florida under its operating procedures while the reservoirs are being refilled, Barr said.

"The current situation clearly illustrates the problems with the (Corps of Engineers) interim operating procedures," Barr wrote in the email to Apalachicola Riverkeeper. "Releases to Apalachicola River are limited ... while simultaneously all demands in Georgia are met and reservoir storage is preserved."

A Corps spokesman in Mobile, Ala. responded Monday that the federal agency is using water from reservoirs to prevent Apalachicola water flow from declining even more. He also said the storage of all reservoirs on the Chattahoochee River is down more than 40 percent.

"In drought operations, we use storage to balance both current and future requirements," wrote Pat Robbins, chief of legislative and public affairs at the Corps' district office. "One never knows how long the drought may last and how long flow augmentation may be required."

Apalachicola Riverkeeper has asked Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal to enact water-use restrictions. The group also is asking the Corps of Engineers to release more water as reservoirs rise rather than waiting for them to refill, said Dan Tonsmeire, the group's executive director.

"The people that are managing and using water upstream are affecting the conditions in the bay," Tonsmeire said. "And we need them to help us out."

Jud Turner, director of Georgia's Environmental Protection Division, said his state's residents are using less water as a result of midday watering restrictions and stricter local regulations that are allowed under a 2010 state law.

"We really think we are seeing changes in behavior -- habit changes," Turner said. "When people aren't out there watering like that, you want to encourage that and not punish them unnecessarily."

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

"State formally approves Glades clean-up plan" @MiamiHerald

State formally approves Glades clean-up plan

Florida formally signed off on an $880-million slate of Everglades cleanup projects on Tuesday.

Gov. Rick Scott announced the state had signed water quality permits and a consent order negotiated with the federal government to expand efforts to stem the flow of polluted farm, ranch and yard runoff into the Everglades.

Scott, in a news release, called the plan he had championed during nine months of negotiations with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency “a historic step for Everglades restoration.’’

The plan commits the state to $880 million in new projects that will expand on an existing network of manmade marshes designed to reduce the flow of the damaging nutrient phosphorus into the Everglades. The state, under pressure from federal judges to speed up the pace of cleanup, has already spent some $1.8 billion to construct 45,000 acres of treatment marshes. The new plan calls for adding another 6,500 acres of marshes, along with large shallow water storage basins and other improvements.

Though most environmental groups have applauded the plan, the Miccosukee Tribe and Friends of the Everglades have been critical, arguing it will push back cleanup deadlines to 2025 — almost two decades beyond an original 2006 target — and questioning whether the state has a firm plan to pay for the work.

Scott, in the release, said the deal would be paid for with a combination of revenues from the state and South Florida Water Management District “without raising or creating new costs for Floridians.’’

By CURTIS MORGAN The Miami Herald

"Governor appoints 13 to new study committee on investor-owned water utilities"

Bruce Ritchie
08/10/2012 - 05:44 PM

Gov. Rick Scott on Friday appointed 13 members to a new committee established by the Legislature to study investor-owned water and wastewater utility systems.

Legislation dealing with the utilities has been filed the past two years amid complaints from customers about poor service and poor water quality.

HB 1379 by Rep. Jason Brodeur, R-Sanford, would have limited the amount utilities can seek to recover during rate hike requests and would have provided financial penalties against utilities that provide inadequate service.

Brodeur said complaints about Aqua Utilities Inc. contributed to his filing the bill. The utility has 23,000 water customers, with most of its water systems located in Central Florida, according to a Public Service Commission report.

But Brodeur scaled back his bill to provide only for language establishing a study committee. The bill passed the House 115-0 but died in the Senate. The language establishing the study committee was amended onto HB 1389, relating to agricultural water storage, which passed and was signed into law by Scott on April 27.

In 2011, SB 950 would have allowed water companies to recover up to 8 percent of their revenue through surcharges imposed on customers for water system upgrades.

Sen. Mike Bennett, R-Bradenton and sponsor of SB 950, said the legislation was needed to help utilities make timely water system improvements before going through the rate-setting process at the PSC. But the bill faced opposition from Aqua Utilities customers although Bennett said the bill didn't involve the utility.

PSC Commissioner Julie I. Brown will serve as chairman of the 18-member Study Committee on Investor-Owned Water and Wastewater Utility Systems. Other members include representatives of the the secretary of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the Office of Public Counsel and members appointed by the House speaker and Senate president.

In his July monthly newsletter, PSC Chairman Ronald Brise said the committee will "now have an excellent opportunity to research innovative strategies that will strengthen Florida’s water industry."

"Reducing tax rate for water district unwise "- Opinion in @miamiherald

BY ERIC BUERMANN
eric.buermann@usa.net

Can you imagine turning on the faucet but having no water come out? Or, after a tropical storm, grappling with standing water in the streets, or even your living room, because there isn’t an adequate flood-control system?

Florida’s water-management districts protect against these unpleasant situations and fix them when they occur. In addition to performing these important duties, our regional water-management district, the South Florida Water Management District, is the state partner in Everglades restoration. Lacking snow-capped mountains that melt into reservoirs, South Florida depends on the Everglades to recharge underground aquifers as our source of water. Unfortunately, in just the past 60 years since our modern flood control system was built, the Everglades have been severely damaged because of the disruption of water flow and other human activity such as farming and development. Restoring the Everglades, aside from having obvious environmental appeal, is imperative for maintaining our only supply of water.

Last year’s massive funding cuts to water-management districts severely compromised those agencies’ ability to carry out core missions of water supply, flood control, and in South Florida’s case, Everglades restoration. In just the past two years, SFWMD’s water supply budget has been cut almost 70 percent. This is the program that ensures you will have running water tomorrow and 20 years from now; develops alternative water supplies as upper aquifers become tapped out; and fosters water conservation. SFWMD has also severely cut its science, education, and monitoring programs. As Everglades restoration progresses, it is crucial to have adequate science programs to monitor and adapt to changing conditions and to maximize our restoration investments. Land stewardship programs that allow recreation on district-owned lands such as trails, horseback riding areas, and waters have also been greatly reduced.

Initially this year it appeared things might be headed back to the right path. Gov. Scott signed new legislation that lifted his artificially imposed spending limits, ostensibly allowing water-management districts to raise revenues needed to sustain their missions.

Recently, however, the water-management districts set their tax millage rates for next year to establish the revenue they will raise through property rates. Even though the South Florida Water Management District reported an almost $5 million shortfall, it decided to set a millage rate that further reduces its tax revenue — even less than last year’s funding after the draconian Scott cuts. To make matters worse, these reductions will have cumulative impacts in the coming years.

Sadly, politics, rather than science and common sense, have driven the decision-making. It’s understandable in an election year that raising the funds necessary to carry out even legislatively mandated missions might paint a district as increasing taxes. With recent legislation virtually ceding budget decisions to Tallahassee, SFWMD’s Governing Board rubber-stamped these crippling cuts without meaningful discussion.

In exchange, do these cuts produce actual savings for South Florida’s tax payers ? For the owner of a $300,000 house, the reduction in this year’s millage rate will save about $1.50 — less than the cost of a half-gallon of gas.

Gambling with our region’s water supply for fear of appearing to “increase taxes” is irresponsible and a disservice to Floridians. Whether politically popular or not, investing in long-term water supply, restoration, and science is a necessity and best serves the public interest.

Eric Buermann is former chairman of the Governing Board of the South Florida Water Management District.

 

via miamiherald.com

 

"DEP issues guidelines to water districts for buying, getting rid of state lands" in The Florida Current

DEP issues guidelines to water districts for buying, getting rid of state lands
Bruce Ritchie, 06/26/2012 - 01:10 PM

Water management districts must receive Florida Department of Environmental Protection approval for major land purchases under guidelines published by DEP this month.

The DEP memo, posted on a department website last week, has received a mixed reaction from environmentalists. Some of them last year accused DEP and Gov. Rick Scott of launching a takeover of the districts, which were established by the Legislature in 1972.

Florida has purchased 2.5 million acres since 1990 under Florida Forever and a predecessor land-buying program. State law provides for 30 percent funding to be divided among the five water management districts, although funding has been sharply cut by the Legislature since 2009.

Three months after taking office in 2011, Scott directed DEP to supervise activities of the districts including review and oversight of land acquisition and disposition. Scott said the districts must focus on their core missions of water supply, flood control and resource protection.

The June 8 guidance memo says districts should focus on acquiring conservation easements, which involve paying landowners to conserve land rather than having the state outright buy the property. DEP also says districts should buy land at 90 percent of the appraised value and should find partner agencies to split the cost.

Related Research: Access the directive from Governor Scott and DEP's land acquisition guidelines.

The guidance document requires any purchase of more than $500,000 to be approved by the department. Any purchase below that amount must be approved by the department unless it is for 90 percent or less of the appraised value.

The document calls on districts to sell land that is no longer needed for conservation purposes. However, DEP cautions the districts against eliminating significant landscape linkages, conservation corridors, natural or cultural resources or public recreational opportunities including hunting.

Clay Henderson, a lawyer and member of the Florida Conservation Coalition, said the memo clearly will have a "chilling effect" on new land purchases by districts. He said the districts also are being pressured to sell their lands.

"I'm just tired of being on the defensive," Henderson said. "We are so well-known for our successes with these programs. They have protected some outstanding examples of conservation land across the state and commanded wide support from the public." 

Charles Lee, director of advocacy for Audubon Florida, said he remains concerned about how the districts are identifying land to get rid of. But he said the guidelines have some good language, such as requiring a determination that lands are no longer needed for conservation and avoiding the elimination of conservation corridors and landscape linkages.

"The land acquisition provisions seem to give reasonable latitude for the districts to move forward with purchases, including the $500,000 purchases which don’t even have to be approved by DEP," Lee wrote in an email.

DEP spokesman Patrick Gillespie said department officials met with district representatives in February and they have been following informally following the guidance document since then.

"The purpose of the document is to provide guidance to the water management districts on purchasing land to support their core missions of water supply, water quality, flood control and natural resource protection while being judicious of Florida taxpayer dollars," Gillespie said in an email.

via thefloridacurrent.com

"State judge sides with DEP in water quality rules challenge" - The Florida Current

Bruce Ritchie, 06/07/2012 - 05:55 PM

An administrative law judge on Thursday upheld the state's proposed new water quality rules that are intended to replace federal rules that agriculture and industry groups oppose. 

Environmental groups had challenged the rules, called numeric nutrient criteria, saying they are weak and unenforceable and would lead to continued toxic algae blooms in Florida waters. However,  Administrative Law Judge Bram D. E. Canter said in his 58-page order the groups failed to make their case with the evidence presented.

Scientists say increasing nitrogen from a variety of sources including fertilizer, wastewater and industrial plants is causing waterways to become choked with algae. The rules would set limits for nitrogen and phosphorus or require studies to show that waterways are not impaired.

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection has forwarded its rules the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for review and approval. EPA's rules were thrown out by a federal judge earlier this year.

The rules were approved in December by the state Environmental Regulation Commission. In February, Gov. Rick Scott signed HB 7051 waiving legislative ratification of the proposed rules.

In a written statement Thursday, DEP Secretary Herschel T. Vinyard Jr. said the department looks forward to getting the rules on the books as soon as possible. 

"It’s time to turn our focus on improving water quality, put our plan into action and end needless litigation that delays Florida’s rules,” Vinyard said.

David Guest, an attorney for the nonprofit Earthjustice law firm representing environmental groups, said his clients could challenge federal approval of the state rules, but he said that federal approval may not happen.

"With evidence around the state this is a grave and growing problem there is a reason to think (the federal) EPA would consider public health as a reason to look at this pretty carefully," he told The Florida Current. Earthjustice represents the Florida Wildlife Federation, St. Johns River Keeper, the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, the Sierra Club and the Environmental Confederation of Southwest Florida.

During a two-week hearing in late February and early March, Earthjustice presented testimony from aquatic scientists who said the rules would not protect waterways from algae blooms caused by excessive nitrogen and phosphorous.

Canter said deference must be given to an agency when it makes a scientific determination on proposed rules. He said it was regrettable that the experts on both sides were so far apart.

But he also said the environmental groups failed to show that DEP lacked authority to propose the rules or that they met the "arbitrary and capricious" standard.

The department's experts "were supported by expert testimony, reports, graphs and data summaries generated by investigations that involved many scientists focused on the specific objective of developing nutrient criteria," Canter wrote. 

"In contrast, petitioners' position was usually supported only by expert opinions that were based on data collected for different purposes and not presented or made a part of the record," he wrote.

DEP officials hope this week to notify the federal EPA of the judge's decision, said Drew Bartlett, director of DEP's Division of Environmental Assessment and Restoration. Then the federal agency will have 60 days to approve the state rules and then would have to withdraw the federal rule for the state rules to take effect.

"Florida unveils new #Everglades restoration plan" in @sunsentinel

$1.5 billion proposal aims to clean up water pollution
 

June 5, 2012|By Andy Reid, Sun Sentinel

A new Everglades restoration deal disclosed Monday proposes to clean up water pollution and resolve decades of federal legal fights, with a more than $1.5 billion public price tag.

The plan that the Florida Department of Environmental Protection on Monday forwarded to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency seeks to correct Florida's failure to meet water-quality standards in stormwater that flows to the Everglades.

Building new water storage and treatment areas along with other improvements over more than a decade could cost about $880 million, according to the South Florida Water Management District, which leads Everglades restoration for the state. 

The full cost also includes about $700 million the district already spent on farmland and unfinished reservoirs from past sidetracked Everglades restoration projects.

If endorsed by the federal government and the courts, the deal could resolve more than 20 years of legal fights and revamp stymied Everglades restoration efforts.

"This is a very solid plan. It is scientifically based and it's affordable," said Joe Collins, chairman of the water management district board. "We certainly are committed to protecting the Everglades."

The proposal includes stricter discharge limits for water treatment areas that send water to the Everglades, with plans by 2025 to meet overdue federal water quality standards that were supposed to take effect in 2006.

Audubon of Florida and the Everglades Foundation on Monday praised the proposal as a welcome sign of progress that could benefit the environment, tourism and drinking water supplies.

"The plan is clearly a major step forward," said Eric Draper, Audubon of Florida's executive director. "We are all going to benefit (from) this."

How to pay for the new plan remains a hurdle.

Florida has already invested about $1.8 billion building 57,000 acres of stormwater treatment areas to filter polluting phosphorous from water that flows off agricultural land and into the Everglades.

Big Sugar should be paying for more of the pollution clean up costs, not taxpayers, according to the environmental group Friends of the Everglades.

"We are skeptical," group representative Albert Slap said about the terms of the proposal disclosed Monday. "We consider it a step in the right direction (but) the problem is enforceability and funding."

The proposed deal is the result of months of negotiations started by Gov. Rick Scott, who in October flew to Washington, D.C., to push for a new restoration plan.

Without a deal, Florida faces the possibility of having to enact a plan proposed by the EPA and prompted by a federal judge that calls for adding more than 40,000 acres of additional stormwater treatment areas along with other enhancements the state estimates would cost $1.5 billion.

The new state proposal

includes more than 7,000 acres of expanded stormwater treatment areas — man-made marshes intended to filter phosphorus from stormwater that flows to the Everglades.

The deal calls for building a series of reservoirs near water treatment areas to hold onto more water that is now drained away for flood control and to better regulate its flow, so that the filter marshes can be effective.

The state's plan also calls for targeting pollution "hot spots," which would mean more pollution control requirements on pockets of farmland where fertilizer runoff and other agricultural practices boost phosphorus levels.

The plan would put to use some of the 26,800 acres the district in 2010 acquired from U.S. Sugar Corp. for $197 million. Old citrus groves in Hendry County would be turned into Everglades habitat, according to the proposal.

The new water storage areas in the plan would include making use of an unfinished 16,700-acre reservoir in southwestern Palm Beach County. That stalled project already cost taxpayers about $280 million before the project was shelved while the district pursued the U.S. Sugar land deal.

Similarly, the proposal calls for redirecting the water in a $217 million rock-mine-turned-reservoir west of Royal Palm Beach to help improve Everglades water quality standards. That water was intended to go north for restoration efforts, but the district has yet to build the $60 million pumps needed to deliver the water to the Loxahatchee River.

The $880 million in new costs could come from $220 million the district has in reserves, $290 million projected from property tax revenue from expected new growth as well as money from the Legislature, according to the district.

The EPA has about a month to review the state's proposed permit changes for water quality standards. State officials face upcoming court hearings June 25 and July 2, where they are supposed to show progress in restoration efforts.

More details are needed to justify the potential cost, said Barbara Miedema, vice president of the Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative of Florida.

"How much more money are we going to spend to get how much more benefit?" Miedema asked.

abreid@tribune.com, 561-228-5504 or Twitter@abreidnews.com

 

 

"State moving forward with new Everglades restoration permit after talks with federal agencies"

Bruce Ritchie, 06/04/2012 - 06:47 PM

 South Florida Water Management District Executive Director Melissa Meeker on Monday described a tentative agreement reached with state and federal officials for proceeding on a revised plan for Everglades restoration.

In October, Gov. Rick Scott met with federal officials in Washington to propose a revised state plan to reduce Everglades phosphorus pollution. Meeker said the plan, with new construction projects and revised pollution measures, has been developed based on an augmented plan developed in October.

"We are still working through the final points of the actual language," Meeker told her district's governing board on Monday.

The plan provides $880 million in new projects through 2025, Meeker said, in addition to some projects already under way. The district, she said, now has $220 million in the bank toward such projects.

U.S. District Judge Alan Gold in July 2008 ordered state and federal agencies to stop issuing permits for stormwater treatment areas. He ordered the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to review state water quality standards for the Everglades.

In 2010, the federal EPA said that clean water standards for phosphorus were not being achieved in all parts of the Everglades and that further reductions of phosphorus pollution are needed south of Lake Okeechobee. High levels of phosphorus can convert sawgrass savannahs into a swamp full of cattails with less wildlife habitat.

Since Scott met with federal officials in October, state and federal agencies have been working on a revised plan, Meeker said. They have developed a technical plan that includes water quality-based pollution limits, new filter marshes and holding ponds to improve water treatment, and an implementation schedule through 2025.

DEP spokeswoman Jennifer Diaz said the state is submitting a revised permit to the Environmental Protection Agency by Wednesday and that it would be posted soon after on the state agency's website.

Meeker said the $880 million in new projects include new "flow equalization basins" that capture and store water and release it later into stormwater treatment areas during dry periods. 

She also said the plan assumes a contribution from taxpayers statewide and that the governor's representatives have met with legislative leaders to discuss it.

Meeker agreed with a board member's suggestion that the cost estimate was conservative with about one-third of the money now in the bank.

"In terms of the appropriations I think it is well within the means with what we have gotten in the past," she said. "There are no guarantees. It is the state Legislature."

But based on conversations the governor's office has had with legislative leaders, Meeker said, "they (legislators) felt the amount of money we were asking for was very reasonable and very doable."

Environmental Protection Agency spokesman Larry Lincoln commended the state for its hard work and said the federal agency will quickly review the submittal to determine whether it meets federal Clean Water Act requirements.

"The most important thing is for on-the-ground work to begin as soon as possible so we can begin work on these projects, which are vital to restoring water quality in the Everglades," Lincoln said.

Representatives of Audubon Florida and the Everglades Foundation spoke in support whileU.S. Sugar Corp. issued a statement in support. But Friends of the Everglades, which filed the lawsuit pending in Gold's court, said it was suspicious.

"Our fear is that the state once again has declined to impose enforceable remedies, adequate financing and best farming practices to sharply curtail phosphorous pollution of the Everglades as required by law," Friends of the Everglades President Alan Farago said.

Audubon Florida Executive Director Eric Draper said his group was glad to hear that the state and federal agencies are working together.

"The plan is clearly a major step forward with helping us get fresh water into the Everglades, which is what we need to do," Draper said.