A proposed $206 million overhaul of Miami Beach’s antiquated drainage system is just the first of many big-ticket bills South Florida faces.

A Honda makes a big splash in South Beach at the MacArthur Causeway south exit onto Alton Road. Heavy rain caused flooding in South Beach and elsewhere in South Florida on April 12, 2010. Photo by Marsha Halper / Miami Herald Staff
MARSHA HALPER / MIAMI HERALD STAFF

By CURTIS MORGAN The Miami Herald

Posted Saturday 9.01.12

Climate change may be the subject of debate in some places but in South Florida it’s become a costly reality.

In Miami Beach, where prolonged flooding in low-lying neighborhoods has become the norm after heavy storms, city leaders are weighing a $206 million overhaul of an antiquated drainage system increasingly compromised by rising sea level.

The plan calls for more pumps, wells to store storm runoff, higher sea walls and “back-flow’’ preventers for drain pipes flowing into Biscayne Bay. Those devices are intended to stop the system from producing the reverse effect it often does now. During seasonal high tides, the salty bay regularly puddles up from sewer grates in dozens of spots, such as near the local westside bar Purdy Lounge. Extreme high tides — like one in October 2010 — can push in enough sea water to make streets impassable, including blocks of the prime artery of Alton Road.

“It’s the first time, as far as I know, that any community in South Florida and actually in the entire state of Florida is taking into account sea level rise as they plan their storm water infrastructure,” said Fred Beckmann, the city’s public works director, during a public hearing on the plan earlier this month.

It won’t be the last time.

South Florida counties and cities, as well as the South Florida Water Management District which oversees flood control for the region, all are beginning to draw up projects for keeping the coastline dry as sea level creeps up. The potential costs could be staggering.

The district alone has identified three flood control gates along coastal Northeast Miami-Dade — critical to draining storm water from Pembroke Pines and Miramar in southwestern Broward — in fast need of retrofitting with massive pumps. Rising seas threaten to reduce the capacity of a system that now depends on gravity, the storm water flowing downhill into the Atlantic. Cost estimates run $50 million or more for each pump alone and buying land for them could double or triple the bill. Nine other gates could need similar work down the road.

Fort Lauderdale, where high tides also push salt water up storm drains in the ritzy Las Olas Isles section, is also planning to install back-flow preventers, said Jennifer Jurado, director of Broward’s environmental protection and growth management department. Hallandale Beach already had to install pumps on storm-water injection wells, at about $10 million each, to combat increasing back-pressure, she said.

“The overall issues are so much greater, I think we’re easily looking at hundreds of millions of dollars,’’ she said. That’s just for the next 20 to 30 years, to handle a moderate three to seven inch rise.

A study last year by the Florida Atlantic University Center for Environmental Studies found that the projected rise over the next 70 to 100 years would require one city alone, Pompano Beach, to spend from $500 million to $1 billion to overhaul drainage and water supply systems, as well as coastal roads and facilities.

“If 50 years from now we’re looking at a foot and a half or two feet and rising, our region is going to be confronted with some very serious problems,’’ said Barry Heimlich, an FAU researcher who co-authored the study. “It’s going to cost hundreds of billions of dollars.’’

Lawmakers in some states have blithely dismissed the threats of global warming, most notably those in North Carolina, where state lawmakers earlier this year passed a law ordering that only historic trends, not projections, be considered in coastal planning.

In South Florida, political leaders and planners aren’t in denial. In 2009, Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Monroe counties formed a climate change “compact’’ to work together to confront a problem South Florida will see sooner than just about anywhere.

A string of studies by insurers, environmental groups and government and university researchers have singled out Miami-Dade County at the top of the list of at-risk cities, with tens of billions of dollars of property that could be damaged by heightened storm surge or flooding.

Earlier this year, a report from Climate Central, an independent research and journalism organization, suggested Miami-Dade and Broward counties alone have more people vulnerable to flooding than any state except Florida and Louisiana. Other studies suggest some of the lowest-lying Florida Keys may be the first to be inundated.

The compact’s draft projection of sea level in Southeast Florida — based on local trends and global forecasts — calls for a rise of three to seven inches by 2030 and nine to 24 inches by 2060. From there, many scientists predict the trend could accelerate.

Miami Beach and other low-lying barrier islands are particularly vulnerable to drainage problems but those are spreading to the mainland, said FAU’s Heimlich. The FAU study found a sea level rise of about six inches could cut flood-control capacity by more than half — with higher tides bottling up canals and structures that now drain with gravity as runoff flows downhill to the coast.

“This is a problem that is not far away,’’ said Heimlich. “It is already being experienced and will get worse in the next few years.’’

Broward and Miami-Dade counties both are doing more detailed analysis of how existing drainage systems might have to be retro-fitted or expanded.

Doug Yoder, deputy director of the Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Department, said sea level rise will also push more salty and brackish water into surface drainage and sewer systems, adding to the costs and volume of treating runoff. Worsening salt water intrusion, which can shrink and taint the underground Biscayne Aquifer, the county’s main source of drinking water, will also require more expensive treatment systems in the future.

Potentially, Yoder said, the county could have to move sewage treatment plants like the aging facility on Virginia Key inland and build them at higher elevations. Monroe County is already planning to do that with a new fire station in Key West, adding several feet to the ground-floor elevation.

While there are a wide range of potential costs, including raising roads, Yoder said solving drainage was critical. Without it, he said, “you wonder how long people will continue to live in a place that floods routinely.’’

James Murley, executive director of the South Florida Regional Planning Council, said Miami Beach is out front in accounting for sea level rise. On-going budget challenges could make it tough sell for some communities worried about spending too much to address impacts that might not come as soon as anticipated. Forecasts differ on the pace and impact.

The plan crafted by Miami Beach’s engineering consultant, CDM Smith, is intended to address sea level rise for just 20 years.

Environmentalists and other critics said that relatively short window, at least in terms of climate change impacts, seemed intended to minimize costs. But Mike Schmidt, a vice president with CDM Smith, said projects could be altered to account for faster or higher rises. More or larger pumps, for instance, could be added to force storm water out against the higher pressures of rising sea levels.

Much of Miami Beach’s drainage system dates back to the 1940s and there is limited data about how many outfalls were designed to remain above high tide or for how long. But an analysis performed by Coastal Systems International, another contractor assisting in the project, showed the ends of the drain pipes are spending more time submerged, with the mean high water elevation creeping up by about 1.68 inches over the last 14 years. The plan, which still must be approved by the Miami Beach Commission, is designed to handle another six inches by 2030

Beckmann, the public works director, said the city only needed to two pumps for stormwater when he started 11 years.

“Right now, we have 17 and we’ll probably call for another 14,’’ he said.

Schmidt said rainfall still accounts for 95 percent of the flooding in Miami Beach but in century or two, the city could be more like New Orleans, sitting below sea level with its safety dependent on sea walls and pumps. “Eventually, if the projections are true, you’re facing a position where the sea level rise would go above the land surface and then you’re raising critical infrastructure,’’ he said. “Your sea walls are going higher, you’re putting in locks and dams and you’re pumping almost everything.’’

For now, Miami Beach Mayor Matti Bower said her biggest concern was figuring out how to pay for the projects, saying she didn’t think it was fair for the city alone to be tackling the expense.

Normally, the city would issue a bond and raise stormwater rates to cover costs but because the drainage project is also designed to reduce environmental impacts to the bay, the city will explore options including seeking federal grants or money from other state or county agencies.

“I’m not even worried about 25 years from now because I’ll be 100 then,’’ Bower said, “but I do worry for the children and grandchildren.’’

Miami Herald staff writer David Smiley contributed to this report.

The Miami Herald EditorialPosted on Sun, Jul. 29, 2012

A broken water line in Little Haiti floods homes and some streets waist-high. The aging wastewater treatment plant on Virginia Key spills 19 million gallons of untreated waste into the ocean. A water main break in Hialeah creates a sinkhole. A burst pipe pours untreated sewage straight into Biscayne Bay.

Over the past two years broken sewer pipes have spewed 47 million gallons of stinky waste onto roads and homes and into Miami-Dade waterways all the way from farmlands in the southern tip of the county to the northern border with Broward, which also is facing major sewer system breakdowns.

With 7,500 miles of sewer lines built into Miami-Dade County’s antiquated system, which is a half-century old in some sections, and with 15 municipal water and/or sewer utilities and the county’s Water and Sewer Department responsible for the upgrades, there has been a lot of finger-pointing but little action to tackle this billion-dollar mess. Indeed, 20 years ago a Miami-Dade grand jury warned that “the Miami River and Biscayne Bay would experience the worst environmental catastrophes in modern history” if nothing got done.

Now, the Environmental Protection Agency is demanding action and the county is in negotiations with federal authorities to come up with a solid plan to fix the treatment plants and faulty pipes.

The last time EPA stepped in because of the county’s neglect was in 1996 when stormwater drainage problems were harming the Miami River and Biscayne Bay. The county has spent $600 million over that time, saving about 100 million gallons of water a day.

Yet the sewer part of the job keeps getting put off — at residents’ peril and with great economic risk to the area’s vibrant tourism industry. Instead of having a pro-active program that repairs aging pipes and upgrades wastewater stations, the county for years used excess money from the residents’ sewer fees to balance the county’s overall budget.

It’s time to increase fees and target that money directly to the repairs that are needed. As it is, the fees county water users pay are among the lowest of any comparable-sized area.

Whether Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez is re-elected or Commission Chairman Joe Martinez gets the voters’ nod, the most important issue affecting the health, safety and economic well-being of the county’s residents is the antiquated water and sewer system.

Last year, Mr. Gimenez offered a budget that took $25 million from the sewer funds as a “loan” to balance the county’s books — an effort aimed at not having to lay off more county workers or reduce crucial services to residents. This year’s budget proposal does not dip into the sewer funds and the loan will start getting repaid in 2014. That’s the right thing to do.

Complicating the problem are about 100 miles of substandard piping laid out by a now-defunct company, including the sewer main running under Government Cut to Virginia Key — a potential catastrophe for this area’s tourism.

Mr. Gimenez and Mr. Martinez have pledged to work on a solution, and Mr. Gimenez’s proposed budget includes fee increases that would be staggered over several years to help pay for the upgrades. The mayor also says the county can bond about $300 million and is working with the EPA to come up with a plan to meet federal clean water requirements. Good.

True, this is an inherited mess. Past administrations delayed the inevitable. But no more excuses. Let’s fix this economic disaster in the making. It’s past time.

An internal study by the county’s Water and Sewer Department says deteriorated water and sewage treatment plants, along with aging pipelines, will require more than $1 billion for immediate repairs.

A massive, five-month internal study by the county’s Water & Sewer Department shows a vast deterioration of water and sewage treatment plants, and aging pipelines, and says more than $1 billion is needed immediately for repairs.

TIM CHAPMAN / MIAMI HERALD STAFF

• Final Water and Sewer Report

By Charles Rabin

crabin@MiamiHerald.com

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/07/24/2909494/repair-bill-over-1-billion-to.h...

Miami-Dade County’s three main water treatment plants and nearly 14,000 miles of pipelines are so outdated it would take more than $1.1 billion just to replace the “most deteriorated, vulnerable sections” of the system, a newly released internal study shows.

Corrosion is so pervasive in the county’s water and sewage-treatment plants, and pipes that move water and sewage, that initial repairs could take from three to eight years, the five-month study found.

Each day 300 million gallons of waste and 459 million gallons of drinking water pass through the county’s system — the 10th largest water-and-sewer utility in the nation.

“The infrastructure we have out there is aged,” said John Renfrow, director of the water and sewer department. “Many of the pipes with leaks out there were built at the same time. It reminds me of an apartment where all the lights are put in at the same time, and you know how all the lights go out at the same time.”

Federal regulators told the county two months ago that it must perform repairs and upgrades. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Justice, along with the state Department of Environmental Protection, are expected to take another four months discussing with Miami-Dade how to fix and pay for a system that Renfrow said is “being held together by chewing gum.”

The study, requested by Commissioner Barbara Jordan, shows the majority of the initial fixes — about $736 million of immediate work — is needed for sewer lines. Water lines would take another $364 million to repair.

The county’s main water treatment in Hialeah, and two sewage plants, on Virginia Key and in South Miami-Dade, are 56, 45 and 87 years old, respectively.

Fixing wire and concrete erosion in pipes would cost about $10 million, and fixing water mains, tanks and pumps would cost another $129.4 million, the study estimated.

Using Hialeah’s John E. Preston water treatment plant as a typical example, the report noted that it “has numerous mechanical, electrical and process components which have exceeded the end of their useful economic service lives, which is usually 20 years.” A picture in the report shows a collapsed interior wall in the plant, which has been in operation since 1966.

Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez said not much in the report surprised him.

Gimenez, Renfrow and several commissioners agree it’s going to take a combination of rate hikes, grants and revenue bonds to get the system up to date.

They said a budget decision to forego borrowing $25 million from the water and sewer coffers this year is a good start. That money, if left untouched each year unlike in the past, when it was moved to the county’s general fund, could pay the debt service on a $300 million bond, they said.

And despite not wanting to raise taxes or fees as the economy stumbles along, Gimenez and several commissioners say they expect a water rate hike in the near future. Historically, Miami-Dade has one of the lowest water rates in the state.

The county’s aging system — not unlike similar systems in most major cities throughout the Unites States — is in such disrepair that it has ruptured at least 65 times over the past two years, spilling more than 47 million gallons of untreated human waste into waterways and streets from one end of the county to the other.

Just this week a 36-inch main gave way in Little Haiti, leaving several families distraught and in search of a place to stay until their homes dry out.

Renfrow said his department will pay for home repairs.

“The funny thing is we checked the Little Haiti pipes in June for leaks. We didn’t miss anything,’’ he said. “The material is just old, it’s just going to break.’’

Similar main breaks were the focus of warning letters sent by federal authorities to the county from 2010 through May, when they finally came calling. The letters warned of possible civil penalties of up to $10,000 a day.

Talks between the county and the feds are expected to lead to an agreement over repairs and upgrades, as well as the funding mechanism.

“How it will be paid for will be figure out by us,” Gimenez said.

The report notes that the funding methods are not likely to be similar to the early 1970s when Congress passed the Clean Water Act, and grants were available for about 75 percent of repairs.

 

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.”

By NATHAN KOPPEL

AUSTIN, Texas—The state's persistent drought has claimed its latest victims: rice farmers.

Because of low water levels in several lakes that serve as reservoirs here, officials said Friday that they wouldn't release irrigation water to farmers in three counties downstream that produce much of the rice in the state.

Associated Press

Ronald Gertson stands beside one of his John Deere tractors last month at his rice farm in Lissie, Texas.

The rice industry contributes about $394 million annually to the economy of the state, which produces about 5% of the nation's rice. The three counties—Colorado, Wharton and Matagorda—lie west of humid Houston and usually get enough rain to make rice farming practicable.

This is the first time in its 78-year history that the Lower Colorado River Authority, which is based here, has cut off water to farmers. The agency waited until the last possible moment—a minute before midnight on Thursday—to make its decision, hoping that water levels would rise enough to avert a cutoff.

The irrigation ban is not expected to affect the shelf price of rice, but it has forced some farmers to lay off employees and consider diversifying into other crops.

"This is my livelihood at stake," said Ronald Gertson, a Texas rice farmer who projected he would produce only about 40% of his typical rice crop this year.

"It sticks in the craw" of farmers, Mr. Gertson said, that the authority will continue to release water to golf courses and other recreational customers that pay higher rates for a guaranteed water supply.

In a statement, the agency said that farmers "pay considerably less for water than cities and industry. And therefore, their water is considered 'interruptible' during a severe drought."

Texans in the rice business said they could probably stay afloat this year, thanks in part to crop insurance, but they worried about another year of interrupted irrigation water.

"If this happens again, we'll be in much more trouble," said Dick Ottis, the president of the Rice Belt Warehouse in El Campo, Texas, which stores and dries rice. The warehouse plans to store more corn, wheat and other commodities this year, he said, but those crops do not produce the profit margins rice does.

"I have already let go about 20% of our employees, because I knew this day was coming about," Mr. Ottis said, adding that his family had been involved in rice farming for almost 100 years and had lived through droughts, but none this bad.

It always seemed like the good Lord would bless us with more rain," he said.

But there appears to be little relief in sight from the drought that still afflicts 85% of Texas. Temperatures are expected to be above normal this summer, said John Nielsen-Gammon, the state climatologist.

Rainfall levels are harder to predict, he said, but "we are in a dry stretch now, which will be worrisome if it continues. It reminds me of last year."

The water agency said it plans to find new supplies of water to avoid a repeat of this year's problems.

Farmers agree. "The development of new reservoirs is imperative," said Daniel Berglund, a 49-year-old rice farmer in Markham, Texas, who said he woke up at 1:15 a.m. Friday and checked to see whether the lakes, against all odds, had risen high enough to allow irrigation water to be released.

"Consumers only see grocery shelves stacked with food, floor to ceiling," he said. "This is an example of the risks we take as farmers. When you lose irrigation water, it stops everything," he said.

Write to Nathan Koppel at nathan.koppel@wsj.com

A version of this article appeared Mar. 3, 2012, on page A3 in some U.S. editions of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Texas Rice Farmers Lose Their Water.

Delicate operation

OUR OPINION: Safety is of the utmost importance in sewage-pipeline replacement

By The Miami Herald Editorial

HeraldEd@MiamiHerald.com

There is only one chance to get this right. Miami-Dade County and cities along the shore are facing a plumbing job so delicate — and so imperative — that, if botched, could mean economic and environmental disaster. A deteriorating pipeline in Government Cut that carries 25 million gallons of raw sewage a day has deteriorated so much in three places that it could rupture just from continued normal use.

This is the bad news from an inspector’s study commissioned last August. The good news is that the county commissioned the study in the first place. Too bad that it wasn’t done earlier, however — much earlier. The pipe carries waste from Miami Beach, Surfside and Bal Harbour to a treatment plant on Virginia Key. It’s about to be replaced with a pipeline laid much deeper. Now the conduit stands in the path of a massive Port of Miami dredging project to deepen the port so that it can accommodate supersized cargo ships coming from the Panama Canal.

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

On Christmas Eve, utility workers try to fix a water main break in Oakland Park that left that city, Fort Lauderdale and Wilton Manors without running water. R.C. White / For The Miami Herald

 

By Michael Vasquez and Carli Teproff

mrvasquez@MiamiHerald.com

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.