January Agricultural Highlights Report for South Florida Water Management District

Phase III Water-use Restrictions Take Effect Across South Florida

As reported in last month’s newsletter, Phase III water use restrictions are now in place for all sixteen counties within the jurisdiction of the South Florida Water Management District. This is in response to dwindling water supplies across south Florida.

Under the modified Phase III restrictions, Agriculture must comply with the following:

• Overhead irrigation is prohibited from 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. daily.
• The hours for low volume irrigation, such as drip and microjet irrigation, are not restricted.
• Overhead irrigation for field grown citrus nursery stock moisture stress reduction is allowed daily for 10 minutes per irrigation zone from 11:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. and 1:30 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.
• Agricultural water conservation best management practices are encouraged to be implemented, including, but not limited to, developing irrigation schedules using real-time weather data and soil moisture probes and irrigate only when soil moisture levels indicate need, developing alternative water supply sources, and ensuring the irrigation system is operating with maximum efficiency by implementing a Mobile Irrigation Laboratory evaluation. For a comprehensive list of agricultural conservation measures, see the Florida Agricultural Water Conservation Best Management Practices Manual produced by Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, available at www.floridaagwaterpolicy.com/PDF/Bmps/Bmp_AgWaterConservation2006.pdf
• Livestock water use shall be voluntarily reduced.
• Aquaculture water use shall be voluntarily reduced.
• Soil flooding for vegetable seed planting, rice planting, burning of sugarcane prior to harvest, and to permit harvesting of sod shall be voluntarily reduced. Soil flooding for all other purposes is prohibited.
• Water use for freeze protection shall be restricted to situations in which official weather forecasting services predict temperatures likely to cause permanent damage to crops.

Additionally, water allotments to water users are being reduced on a basin-by-basin basis depending on the water levels and weather conditions within the basin.

If growers have a unique situation, they may apply for a variance to the restrictions. Variance instructions and the application can be found at:
http://my.sfwmd.gov/portal/page?_pageid...

The District stated that it will process variance applications promptly.

South Florida Agriculture Dodges Cold Blast

Agriculture across south Florida escaped all but minor damage as temperatures plummeted across the state on January 3rd with upper 20’s reported down the western side of the ridge that runs down the center part of the state. In the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA), temperatures stayed in the mid to upper 30’s where cold sensitive crops such as sugar cane and sweet corn are abundant.

An interesting observation during the windy days that accompanied the cold weather was the Lake Okeechobee gauge readings. Gauges in the northern end of the lake indicated a lake level of 8.5 feet while gauges in the southern portions indicated 11.5 feet. This was due to winds from the north blowing and stacking the water towards the south. The average level was just less than 10.3 feet on January 3rd. Four gauges around the lake are used to develop an average water level in the lake.

Pumping Alternatives Considered

Ten of the fourteen temporary forward pumps are in place at structures S-351, S-352 and S-354. The remaining pumps will be installed over the next several weeks. The forward pumps are used to supply water to agriculture in the EAA when gravity flows are insufficient.

The Water Management District is concerned that the pumps will not be able to supply water with the projected lake levels this spring. Some pumps have been retrofitted with bonnets on the intake side to increase pumping efficiency at very low lake levels. Testing thus far is inconclusive that retrofitting the pumps will be ultimate answer for water supply but the retrofitted pumps are expected to supply water down to a lake level of 7.5 feet.

The lake level is currently at 10.13 feet and models are predicting lake levels to drop to between 7.2 feet and 8.2 feet by June 1st.

Growers, Farmers and Ranchers are Maximizing Best Management Practices (BMPs)

As the belt is tightening on water use across south Florida, agriculturalists are making the best of water saving practices that many have used for decades. Agriculture in many areas started converting to low volume technology twenty years ago to better utilize their limited financial resources.

These BMPs were developed to help the farmer with better placement of water and to reduce nutrient runoff. As the cost of fertilizer and fuel escaladed, these practices made good economic sense to implement on crops where it was feasible.
Little did the agriculturalist know that twenty years later, these BMPs would be an example used by all residents across Florida to save a dwindling resource.

Water is Precious

Many of us are familiar with the verse “Water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink” from the poem: “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”. Most of us, however, probably don’t realize how true those words are in terms of the amount of freshwater available to us.

Have you ever wondered where our water is stored? As you probably guessed, most of it is in the oceans. In fact, over 97% of all water on the planet is too salty for us to drink or use to irrigate crops. Of the remaining 3% that is freshwater, about 2% is tied up in ice caps and glaciers and about 0.9% is stored as water in the ground. That leaves less than 0.1% of the world’s total water supply to be split up between the rivers, lakes, and the atmosphere (stored as water vapor).