"Putnam says the future of Florida and agriculture are entwined" @flcurrent

Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam on Wednesday outlined what he called the "hard economic truths facing Florida agriculture" including the need for a "smart" immigration policy, dealing with invasive animals and plant diseases, improving Florida seaports to gain new overseas markets and ensuring future water supplies.

"These (issues) aren't separate silos," Putnam said during a speech to the Economic Club of Florida. "The future of agriculture and the future of Florida are entwined."

"Agriculture is present on two-thirds of the acreage of our state," he continued. "If that goes away, what replaces it that's better than what we have --Citrus groves along highway 27, the magnificent pine forests up and down I-10.

"What replaces that -- that gives you the same economic value, the same tax base stability and the same quality of life issues? Chances are it's not better than what you have right now in terms of a vibrant agriculture industry."

Florida's agriculture industry produces $100 billion in sales annually and provides 1 million jobs, according to the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

The agriculture commissioner said he views child nutrition as an economic issue because the state every year spends $1 billion on school nutrition programs with four million meals served each day. Taxpayers are helping pay for many free and reduced cost meals as well as the health care costs resulting from poor diets.

"If we are content to serve Tater Tots and ketchup and call it a starch and a vegetable, we will pay the economic consequences of doing that," he said.

Putnam said he has about 50 people now in Hialeah, Kendall and West Miami looking for the giant African land snails that can eat almost anything including the stucco off homes. Agriculture must factor for the increased threat from foreign species and agricultural diseases.

"When there is a breakdown at the federal government level at an airport or seaport it is frequently the state taxpayers who are asked to pick up the tab and clean up the mess," he said.

The planned widening of the Panama Canal, he said, could be a boost for Florida agriculture. He said the port could bring consumer products that now are unloaded from ships in California to Florida if the state is ready. And those ships could return with Florida agricultural products.

He also said a smart immigration policy is needed the "best human capital" from around the world to fill employment gaps.

"The simple fact is if we want to be a free nation that can feed itself and not be as dependent on others as we are for our fuel, we need that stable legal workforce," he said.

The biggest long-term economic challenge facing agriculture and the state, he said, is water. He said the lack of water flowing from federal reservoirs in Georgia into the Apalachicola River is having "devastating" consequences for oystermen and the seafood industry at Apalachicola Bay.

Water supply, he said, must be a substantial component of state programs in the future the way land acquisition has been in recent decades.

"It is that connection to the water," he said, "that not only gives us an identity but gives us the economic foundation for everything that flows from it."

"Rains raise water levels throughout South Florida" @miamiherald

With rainfall at a record pace in some places, water managers are struggling to lower water levels in Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades.

   A man makes his way along Washington Avenue in South Beach Aug. 25, 2012 as outer bands of Tropical Storm Isaac reach South Florida.

From Lake Okeechobee to the marshes of the Everglades, South Florida has been saturated by what is shaping up as the wettest of wet seasons.

Water managers are struggling to deal with high-water concerns across a region left brimming by Tropical Storm Isaac and stubbornly steady storms that have followed in its drenching wake. Some spots are on pace for the rainiest year on record, with Miami leading the list at 79.51 inches through September.

On Wednesday, federal engineers ordered the drainage gates cranked open even wider on Lake Okeechobee, where water levels have climbed nearly a half-foot despite two weeks of release intended to slowly lower them. The decision by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to double the flow is primarily intended to ease pressure on the aging and leaky flood-control dike that rings the massive lake, but it will have a side-effect of pouring billions of gallons of polluted water into sensitive river estuaries on both coasts.

In the swollen marshes of the Central Everglades north of the Tamiami Trail, there are no similar relief-valve options to help deer and other wildlife, which have already spent the last month mostly confined to levees and small tree islands, shrinking swaths of high ground where starvation from dwindling food supplies, and diseases like hoof rot, are a growing threat.

Even without more rain, it could take another three weeks to a month for the water to drop to normal seasonal levels, said Michael Anderson, regional wildlife biologist for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

“Quite frankly, after about 30 days, they start to run out of groceries on the islands and we start to see impacts,’’ Anderson said.

The Corps’ initial effort to lower the massive lake has already dumped more than 11 billion gallons of freshwater laced with high levels of farm chemicals and nutrients into the St. Lucie River on the east coast and the Caloosahatchee River on the west coast. Similar but much larger dumps after hurricanes in 2004 and 2005 destroyed oyster beds and sea grass, and triggered massive foul fish-killing algae blooms.

But with two months still left in hurricane season and plenty of rain remaining in the forecast, the Corps’ lake managers said they had little choice but to accelerate the damaging releases.

“We just haven’t seen the results we wanted since we started,” said Lt. Col. Thomas Greco, the Corps’ deputy commander for South Florida.

Under the Corps’ management plan, the water level in Lake Okeechobee is supposed to stay between 12.5 feet and 15.5 feet above sea level, rising and falling with seasonal rain. It stood at 15.69 feet on Wednesday.

That’s still well short of the 17-foot level where engineers begin to worry about the integrity of its aging dike, which has sprung leaks during past hurricanes and is undergoing repairs that will take years. But a tropical storm like Isaac can quickly drive up lake levels by two or three feet, which would raise the risk of a potentially catastrophic failure.

The lake has to come down and the Everglades are already too full to send water there, Greco said.

State and federal water managers say they are doing the best they can do with an outmoded and overwhelmed flood-control system that operates under sometimes conflicting regulations to protect suburbs, farms and the Everglades from excessive flooding. A string of Everglades restoration projects, starting with a bridge along Tamiami Trail expected to be completed next year, promises to resolve many of the issues and eventually allow more water to flow south into Everglades National Park. But it could take a decade or more for enough of the projects to come on line to make a significant difference.

For now, water managers are diverting as much water as they can out of the biggest troubles spots in the Everglades — the marshy water conservation areas bordering Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties — and sending it down canals into southern Everglades National Park and Florida Bay. State wildlife managers also have temporarily restricted public access to flooded portions of the Everglades and the Francis S. Taylor Wildlife Management Area to ease stress on stranded wildlife.

Flooding decimated the Glades’ population of white-tailed deer in 1982 and 1995, knocking the herd from thousands to hundreds, and killed countless smaller animals that rely on high, dry tree islands for food and shelter.

The FWC’s Anderson said he doesn’t expect that level of loss this time around, barring another major storm, which could keep water levels high even longer.

According to the South Florida Water Management District, which runs the flood control system from Orlando to Key West, seasonal rainfall is running about 114 percent above normal with an average of 37.53 inches across 16 counties.

But some areas have been hit harder than others, with the district showing eastern Broward County experiencing the wettest April through September since 1955, with more than 44 inches of rain — more than nine inches above average. Eastern Miami-Dade has been even wetter, with nearly 50 inches of rain — 13.22 inches above average.

At the official rainfall gauges maintained by the National Weather Service, Miami is on pace to record its wettest year ever, with 79.51 inches measured at Miami International Airport through September. The annual record for that site is 89.33 inches in 1959. The Redland, with 72.69 inches, and Homestead, with 67.58 inches, also are on pace for the wettest years on record. Fort Lauderdale’s Dixie water plant, with 69.24 inches, is the second wettest mark through September on record.

-By CURTIS MORGAN

"Corps to begin draining storm-swollen Lake Okeechobee" @MiamiHerald

Federal engineers will start slowly lowering levels of Lake Okeechobee in an effort to minimize algae blooms that have tainted rivers during past releases.

With Lake Okeechobee now topping 15 feet and still rising from Tropical Storm Isaac, federal engineers decided Tuesday to begin slowly draining the lake, opening gates that will send polluted waters down rivers on both coasts but ease pressure on its aging dike.

The move, which in the past has triggered foul fish-killing algae blooms in the sensitive estuaries of the Caloosahatchee River on the West Coast and the St. Lucie River on the East Coast, will begin on both sides of the lake at 7 a.m. Wednesday.

Lt. Col. Thomas Greco of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said the agency would try to minimize environmental impacts by starting with small volumes rather than the torrents of runoff laced with agricultural chemicals and nutrients that devastated both rivers after the hectic 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons. The dumping also can raise salinity levels in estuaries, which can harm sea grass, oysters and other marine life.

“We’re actually releasing much less than what is authorized under the Lake Okeechobee regulation schedule,’’ said Greco, the Corps’ deputy commander for South Florida.

Under the Corps plan, the lake level is supposed to stay between 12.5 feet and 15.5 feet above sea level, rising and falling with rainfall. The goal is to balance the big lake’s often conflicting uses as a flood control basin, regional water reservoir and world-renowned fishing destination.

In the dry winter, it serves as a major source of water for surrounding sugar, citrus, sod and vegetable growers. In the wet summer, it handles runoff from hurricanes and storms like Isaac, which quickly filled a lake that had previously been running below normal. The lake has risen nearly three feet in the last month.

Greco said the lake’s massive dike, which is being beefed up with construction projects, is in good shape. Though the aging earthen levee has leaked during past storms, Greco said Isaac caused no problems and Corps studies suggest it would be safe with water levels up to 18 feet.

But because the lake is so near the 15.5-foot ceiling, there is little room left if another tropical system hits. The lake can rise much faster than the Corps can lower it. A foot of rain over the Kissimmee River basin to the north can boost lake levels as much as four feet in weeks, Greco said. It can take the Corps 75 days to drop it to that level again, barring other storms.

“Really what we’re looking at is preparing ourselves and make sure the conditions are right through the hurricane season,” he said.

"$64 million reservoir pumps approved to deliver overdue water boost" @Sunsentinel

By Andy Reid, Sun Sentinel

Building new $64 million pumps could finally get water flowing as once intended from a Palm Beach County reservoir plagued by controversy.

South Florida taxpayers already sunk $217 million into transforming old rock mines west of Royal Palm Beach into a reservoir intended to boost water supplies and help the environment.

http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/images/pixel.gifNow, the South Florida Water Management District has approved a deal to design and construct a pumping station that has been on hold since the L-8 Reservoir was finished in 2008.

Budget problems and changes to Everglades efforts contributed to shelving pump plans.

But now the reservoir plays a key role in revamped Everglades restoration plans and more money is pouring in to get the pumps built.

"It's a very, very significant construction project," said Joe Collins, board chairman for the South Florida Water Management District. "It's something that has been a long time coming."

Even with the long-delayed pump plans getting back on track, questions remain about whether the reservoir will ever deliver the expected water supply benefits.

"They are trying to bail out a bad decision," Drew Martin, of the Sierra Club, said about the new plans for the reservoir. "It was just a bad investment."

The 15 billion-gallon reservoir built at Palm Beach Aggregates was once intended to store water that would replenish the Loxahatchee River — which had natural water flows diminished by decades of draining in South Florida.

The reservoir was also meant to supplement community drinking water supplies and provide drought relief for West Palm Beach and other areas.

While the reservoir has helped West Palm Beach during droughts in 2007 and 2011, without the pumps it hasn't delivered the water expected for the Loxahatchee River.

Also, water quality problems blamed on the depth of the reservoir and stagnation from lack of pumps have dogged the project.

Now the state's new $880 million plan for improving Everglades water quality includes sending the bulk of that reservoir water south.

http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/images/pixel.gif

Help for the Loxahatchee River instead would eventually come from plans to store and treat water on Palm Beach County's Mecca Farms property, west of Palm Beach Gardens.

The planned pumping station would include six large pumps capable of drawing water from 40-feet deep. The reservoir's 15 billion gallon capacity is enough water to cover 34,000 football fields one foot deep, according to the water management district.

The district chose Archer Western Contractors, based in Atlanta, to design and build the pumps. Archer was the low bidder among two other competing firms. It's expected to take 2-1/2 years to build the pumping station, with construction expected to start in May.

Controversy has followed the reservoir project.

Palm Beach Aggregates ended up reimbursing the district for a $2.4 million secret "success fee" that federal prosecutors contend was paid to an engineering consultant who pushed the reservoir deal to water managers — without revealing his work as a consultant for Palm Beach Aggregates.

That fee and a Palm Beach Aggregates home development proposal factored into separate federal corruption investigations that led to the resignations and jail time for two Palm Beach County commissioners ousted by scandals.

"Rising seas mean shrinking South Florida future, experts say" - in @miamiherald #Environment

Under current projections, the Atlantic would swallow much of the Florida Keys and Miami-Dade in a century, according to experts at a sea-level rise summit

In this file photo, a picnic table in Everglades National Park sits in high water after a tropical storm dumped a ton of rain on South Florida. Extreme weather conditions and rising sea levels brought on by global warming could have a catastrophic effect on the state of Florida which will be ground-zero for global warming in the United States. David Walters / Herald Staff

By Curtis Morgan The Miami Herald

The subject of global warming has become so politically unpalatable over the last few years that neither party mentions it much anymore.

A conference on climate change sponsored by Florida Atlantic University made it clear that ignoring the threat has done nothing to slow it down — particularly in South Florida, which has more people and property at risk by rising sea levels than any place in the country.

The two-day summit in Boca Raton, which wrapped up Friday, painted a bleak and water-logged picture for much of coastal Florida.

Under current projections, the Atlantic Ocean would swallow much of the Florida Keys in 100 years. Miami-Dade, in turn, would eventually replace them as a chain of islands on the highest parts of the coastal limestone ridge, bordered by the ocean on one side and an Everglades turned into a salt water bay on the other.

Ben Strauss, chief operating officer of Climate Central, an independent research and journalism organization, warned that much of the southern peninsula south of Lake Okeechobee would be virtually uninhabitable within 250 years.

“There’s good reason to believe southern Florida will eventually have to be evacuated,” Strauss told some 275 scientists and climate and planning experts from government agencies, insurance companies, construction experts and other businesses likely to be impacted by rising seas.

While scientists can’t yet predict with certainty how fast and high seas will eventually rise, there is no disputing South Florida will be ground zero for the earliest major impacts, said Leonard Barry, director of FAU’s Florida Center for Environmental Studies.

“The sky is not falling, but the waters are rising,” he said. “We need to recognize that, prepare for that and begin to address it.’’

Four counties — Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Monroe — have begun to do that under a 2009 agreement to work together studying how to mitigate and adapt to the myriad ripple effects of rising seas.

Though it might take a century or more to flood people out, scientists warned that potential impacts will come long before in the form of increasing damage from hurricane storm surge and flooding, rising insurance rates and shrinking freshwater supplies as sea water taints coastal wells.

If the rate of rise increases, as some new studies suggest, all those impacts could come sooner — in decades, not centuries.

University of South Florida oceanographer Gary Mitchum said data from worldwide tide gauges suggest the sea level rise might be speeding up, jumping from about two millimeters a year from 1950 to 1992 to three millimeters since.

That amount, a little bit more than a tenth of an inch, adds up quickly in low-lying South Florida, according to expert analysis.

Six more inches, for instance, would compromise half of the South Florida Water Management flood control gates at high tide, potentially worsening flooding losses. Seven inches would consume 30 percent of Big Pine Key. At a foot, 60 percent of Monroe County’s land would disappear. At three feet, 85 percent would be inundated — along with a large swath of coastal Miami-Dade and Broward.

Overall, according to a “Surging Seas” report produced earlier this year by Climate Central, Florida easily ranks as the most vulnerable state 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.

Miami-Dade and Broward alone have more people at risk than any state except Florida and Louisiana, Strauss said. Lee and Pinellas counties also are at high risk.

It’s not just coastal areas either. Low-lying inland cities like Hialeah and Pembroke Pines could be flooded out by a rising, saltier Everglades.

Daniel Williams, an architect and post-disaster planner, said he envisions a future where Miami-Dade would be confined to islands on the highest points of an ancient coastal ridge that runs along the coast. Inundated homes and building along the coast might be left behind to serve as reefs.

The Climate Central 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, estimates the average sea level could rise from seven inches to about 24 inches by 2100 but notes it could be higher under some scenarios.

James Beever, a principal planner with the Southwest Florida Regional Planning Council, said the changes can already been seen in Florida’s landscape.

Some salt marshes, he said, had already moved inland by the length of a football field. In the Everglades, mangroves have also marched inland, as salt water transforms freshwater marshes.

“The things you read about in the literature that this is going to happen, it’s already happening,’’ he said.

 

 

Environmental group claims win in ongoing challenge to state 'impaired' waters rule | The Florida Current #water #eco

A decade-long legal dispute over Florida's process of listing waterways that require cleanups has taken another yet another turn.

Chief U.S. District Judge M. Casey Rodgers in Tallahassee last week ordered the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to review Florida's revised "impaired waters" rule to determine whether it has caused some waterways to be dropped from the state's cleanup list.

Environmental groups, who say the state is attempting to drop waterways from its list rather than clean them up, are claiming victory in the latest ruling. An attorney for industry groups that backed the state rule at issue said it was scientifically valid as upheld by a state hearing officer.

Environmental groups in 2001 challenged the Florida Department of Environmental Protection rule that established the process for listing "impaired waters" as required by the federal Clean Water Act

The groups said DEP was seeking to avoid forcing industries to reduce pollution by removing waterways from the list. DEP said in a news release at the time that the goal was to identify and focus restoration efforts on waterways that are truly degraded.

The 11th Circuit U. S. Court of Appeals has stated that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency must determine whether water bodies will be removed from the cleanup list under the initial 2001 rule and subsequent revisions. Rodgers ruled last week that the EPA had not done so and gave the agency 120 days to take action.

A U.S. Environmental Protection Agency spokeswoman said the agency was reviewing the order. A DEP spokeswoman said the agency stands by its state rule, which she said was not questioned by the judge's ruling.

"In fact, the judge’s ruling upholds every technical aspect of those sections of the IWR (impaired waters rule) that EPA has reviewed and approved," spokeswoman Dee Ann Miller said. "It simply directs EPA to expand or further document its evaluation and analysis of those sections of the rule that EPA has not reviewed."

The judge's ruling is a huge boost for environmentalists who now want the federal EPA to give up its appeals, said Linda Young, director of the Clean Water Network of Florida. She said the EPA should review the list to determine what water bodies were being dropped because of the rule changes, not because they had been restored.

"Honestly I'm so happy about this ruling," Young said. "The Obama administration has been so disappointing in so many ways. I'm hoping and praying this will not be another disappointment."

Other environmental groups that are plaintiffs in the latest lawsuit filed in 2009 are the St. Johns Riverkeeper and the Conservancy of Southwest Florida. The court earlier denied requests by industry groups seeking to intervene on behalf of EPA.

DEP has reported that the number of miles of impaired waterways increased from about 1,000 miles in 2008 to about 1,900 miles in 2010, according to a federal EPA web site. Impaired acres of lakes increased from 350,000 acres in 2008 to 378,000 in 2010. 

The case is separate from the dispute over proposed federal water quality rules that has raged during the past two years and led to HB 7051, waiving adoption by the Legislature of proposed alternative state rules. 

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

 

It's only a matter of time before salt water intrudes..."Florida at highest risk for flooding from sea level rise, report finds" @miamiherald #water #eco

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.

Upgrades to our water infrastructure are needed now!!! They are costly, but free water is a thing of the past... "Water, sewer pipes are breaking and it’s only going to get worse" in @miamiherald

Age, decay and human error are behind a string of water and sewer failures.

The hectic nature of Christmas Eve — last-minute presents to buy, family to entertain, meals to cook — can be a mountain of stress. Now try keeping it together after all the faucets stop running.

That was the challenge presented to more than 200,000 Broward County homes and businesses this holiday season, after a ruptured water line left families high and, quite literally, dry. On Christmas Day, though the water was again flowing, it had to be boiled before families could be assured it was safe.

 

@SFWMD Gov Board Chairman Joe Collins’ op-ed, “Water Management Districts: Intact, on Task and Spending Wisely.” #Eco #Everglades

In case you missed it, please see South Florida Water Management District Governing Board Chairman Joe Collins’ op-ed,  “Water Management Districts: Intact, on Task and Spending Wisely.

 

November 30, 2011 

 

Water Management Districts: Intact, on Task and Spending Wisely

 

Myths and misinformation continue to swirl around Florida’s water management districts and their ability to do their job with lower revenues and smaller organizations. In South Florida, unfounded concerns have been expressed about the future of Evergladesrestoration, the capacity of our District scientists and the erosion of our regulatory authority. The facts can alleviate these unwarranted fears.

 

Fact 1. The establishment of Florida’s five water management districts is firmly rooted in statute. In Florida, water is a public resource. The districts were specifically created by the Water Resources Act in 1972 to manage and protect the state’s waters on behalf of our citizens. For four decades we have fulfilled our responsibilities of managing water supply, water quality, flood protection and natural systems in the public interest through a solid regulatory framework, governing boards appointed by the Governor and state oversight through the Department of Environmental Protection. This framework has not changed.

 

Fact 2. The South Florida Water Management District is indeed building a leaner, more efficient agency by eliminating unnecessary expenses and getting back to its core mission. In doing so, we are saving South Floridians $128 million through a 30-percent tax reduction, the majority of which was realized by cutting overhead and administrative costs. This is welcomed news for taxpayers who expect cost-effective services, government transparency and accountability in spending.  

 

Fact 3. The District continues to be a dynamic agency, providing more than 1,600 jobs across the region. Close to half of these jobs are dedicated to operating South Florida’s massive flood control system. To support water resource protection and environmental restoration, more than 25 percent of our workforce holds Ph.D. or Master degrees, and we have more than 150 certified professional engineers and geologists on staff. This highly qualified, capable and competent workforce is focused on efficiently achieving the agency’s water management responsibilities.

 

Fact 4. The District’s $576.1 million budget is being used to deliver tangible, meaningful results. For fiscal year 2012, more than 70 percent of the budget will go toward flood control and restoring the South Florida ecosystem. With a combined investment of more than $850 million in 2011 and 2012, we will be completing construction on a half dozen restoration projects. And over the next five years, the District will use financial reserves to invest another $350 million toward developing and protecting the water resources of this state and to improving the Everglades, Lake Okeechobee and the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee watersheds.

 

Fact 5. Our appointed Governing Board is highly engaged and actively guiding the agency’s work. Representing diverse South Florida interests, these volunteers have oversight of District activities and provide policy direction on all issues, including regulatory functions. The District continues to scrutinize permit applications to ensure water resource protection, and we share with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection the objective of improved statewide consistency while recognizing our regional diversity. There is no effort to weaken our standards.

 

These facts do not represent the actions of a disabled water management district. Just the opposite. They are the actions of a government agency true to its founding principles, clearly focused on its mission, streamlined in its internal operations and delivering efficient and cost-effective water resource management.

 

Joe Collins, Chairman

South Florida Water Management District Governing Board