South Florida Water Management District February Agricultural Highlights Report

Date: February 8, 2008

To: South Florida Water Issues Network & State Water & Natural Resources Advisory Committee

From: Charles Shinn, Assistant Director, Government & Community Affairs

Re: South Florida Water Management District February Agricultural Highlights Report

Rainfall Outlook Remains Slim for South Florida

As south Florida approaches the mid-point of the dry season, computer models from the NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center indicate a deepening of the drought throughout the region.

November through January historical rainfall averages 6.68 inches across the sixteen counties of south Florida. The same months this season have averaged 2.95 inches or 44% of normal. The average rainfall in south Florida for November through May dry season is 18.8 inches.

Some localized urban and agricultural areas close to the coasts have had enough rainfall to supply the shallow surficial aquifers. Water Management District officials are concerned that public perception of the water shortage wanes when this occurs because it looks like they have plenty of water. Officials continue to stress that south Florida does not have a backup supply of water and that everyone needs to look at south Florida as a whole and not their individual locale.

Florida Farm Bureau Federation is daily representing the needs of farmers before the Water Management District in an attempt to strike a delicate balance between agriculture, municipalities, and the environment.

Lake Okeechobee Nears Ten Feet

Lake Okeechobee, the bellwether instrument for south Florida water supply is expected to drop below 10 feet this week. The lake dropped below this level two months later last year in mid-April. The all-time record low level of 8.82 feet was last year on July 2nd.

The lake level is currently at 10.05 feet and models are predicting lake levels to drop to between 7.0 feet and 8.3 feet by June 1st. At a level of 7 feet, 40% of the lake surface area is dry ground.

If the region around and north of the lake has a normal wet season rainfall pattern, this only adds two to three feet to the lake level. If this occurs, the lake will still be abnormally low and the water shortage and thus severe water restrictions on agriculture will continue in the foreseeable future.

Farm Bureau/IFAS Join Forces to Bring Growers and Water Management District Together

Florida Farm Bureau is teaming up with the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) to present grower workshops to address water shortage and conservation issues. Water Management District personnel will present the nuts and bolts of their forecasting and modeling information. Growers will be encouraged to ask questions. This interaction helps growers to understand reasoning behind District decisions but more importantly it allows growers explain the impact of District decisions (i.e. water restrictions) on their livelihood.

IFAS will present current research efforts in water conservation and ways to stretch the water supply that we have. Again, this two-way discussion will allow growers to convey real-time plant response to the drought with the scientists.

It is the goal of Florida Farm Bureau to increase dialogue so that growers can be assured that everyone is doing everything possible to make it through these difficult times.

Integrity Concerns Over Kissimmee River Water Control Structures

Water Management District officials are concerned that the water control structures on the Kissimmee River may be prone to failure if abundant rainfall occurs in the upper Kissimmee Basins this summer. This is due to the excessive head differential (water levels) on either side of the structure.

Water control structures are gated and release water while holding the upstream water at predetermined levels. As water flows through the gate, it creates energy. This energy is greater when the upstream water level is much higher than the downstream level. The excess energy can erode the concrete baffles that dissipate energy. Excessive water velocities leaving the structure then scour a hole in the river bottom which undermines the structure.

Undermining can cause the entire structure to shift, float or topple, causing failure. If this happens upstream of additional structures, additional failures can occur in a domino effect, causing widespread damage and flooding.

The governing board authorized funding to investigate this potential. One possible solution is to build a temporary sheet-pile weir on the downstream side of the structures.

Lake Level Deviation Approved for Istokpoga

In January, the Water Management District was granted a deviation to the regulation schedule of Lake Istokpoga to an elevation of 36.0 feet. This deviation will allow additional water to be released to supply water to tribal lands and agriculture northwest of Lake Okeechobee in the Indian Prairie Basin.

Weekly teleconferences with the Water Management District, United States Army Corps of Engineers, and United States Fish and Wildlife Services will continue to assess water levels in the lake and potential effects of the deviation on snail kites and apple snails.

Lake Istopoka is the third largest lake in Florida and is located in Highlands County.

Dade County Farmers Address Importance of Annual Drawdown

Dade County Farm Bureau and Miami-Dade growers had the opportunity to explain the importance of the long-standing practice of a seasonal drawdown. The drawdown is vital to retain agriculture in eastern Miami-Dade County.

Drawdown is the process of lowering canal levels by 0.4 feet during the critical growing season (October 15th to December 30th) to allow farmers to grow crops for the winter market. Without this action by the District, agriculture could not survive leaving the likelihood of development on the agricultural lands.

Drawdown critics say that water that drains to the ocean is lost to tide (wasted) and pulses of fresh water harm the Biscayne Estuary.

Farming handles water much better than development especially during the critically wet season. Mark Lewis, Superintendent of Biscayne National Park also affirms that agriculture is a better neighbor than development.

Water Management District officials will evaluate the option of building a water structure or other hydrologic device so that the drawdown will impact a smaller land mass (i.e. only the agricultural lands).