South Florida Water Management District: September 2008 Ag Highlights

Abundant Rainfall Lifts South Florida Out of Two Year Drought

Rainfall from Tropical Storm Faye has confirmed the adage that Florida is always two days from a flood or two weeks from a drought. In a two day period, the sixteen counties of south Florida received abundant rainfall which brought the three month average (July – September) to 22.53 inches.

The bulk of the rainfall from Faye came down in the northern half of the district mostly from Lake Okeechobee northward to Orlando. This area, known as the Northern Everglades consists of basins that ultimately feed Lake Okeechobee.

Lake Okeechobee responded by rising out of the Water Shortage Zone into normal lake levels for this time of year. Current lake level is 15.11 feet. In comparison, the level was 11.27 feet one month ago and 9.61 feet on this date last year. At 15.11 feet, the lake covers an area of 700 square miles. Last year, the lake area on this date was 479 square miles.

South Florida Water Management District governing board (SFWMD) responded by removing all existing water restrictions on agricultural water use permit holders. This gives growers the ability to use water as needed within the restraints of their permit. Two-day-a-week residential landscape restrictions remain in place.

"The Board's action today was prudent given the improved conditions," said Eric Buermann, SFWMD Governing Board Chairman. "This will help alleviate some of the challenges faced by agriculture, business and recreational facilities while still maintaining a conservation ethic and recognizing that residential landscapes have benefited from the summer rainfall pattern."

Crop Damage Isolated and Delayed

Although crops were submerged in many locations around and to the north of Lake Okeechobee, most farmers were able to move the water off of their crop lands quickly thus avoiding permanent damage to the roots. Florida Farm Bureau did receive several reports of crop damage where extenuating circumstances such as high water levels downstream caused the water to remain long enough to promote root damage.

Damage in perennial crops such as citrus may be delayed and unknown for one or even two crop seasons. Some trees are dying immediately while others will show damage by having fewer leaves on the tree next spring that will support a smaller crop of fruit. This makes estimating economic loss due to the flooding very difficult and revisions will need to be made to the loss figures.

Florida Farm Bureau Closely Watching Lake Releases

Since Tropical Storm Faye, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACOE) has had one series of pulse releases from Lake Okeechobee. Pulse releases are periodic openings of the structures which allow water to gravity flow into the Caloosahatchee River (C-43) and St. Lucie River (C-44). The pulse release mimics a natural rain event. These first releases were in response to the continual steady rise of the lake above 15 feet and the concerns at that time about Hurricane Ike.

A second set of pulse releases began on Sept. 16 and will continue for 14 days.

Florida farmers understand that the ultimate concern of the Corps is the integrity of the Herbert Hoover Dike that surrounds Lake Okeechobee and the health and safety of the local residents. As we are just past the half way point in the hurricane season, the tropics may be active for several more months. This certainly creates a tense situation when the lake can fill so quickly and it takes a very long period of time to lower the level.

Florida Farm Bureau asks that the Corps be diligent in lowering the lake only the amount necessary to assure the safety of the residents. As all of our surface and ground water in south Florida ultimately comes from rainfall, it is imperative that we conserve as much of the volume that we can in the lake until additional storage becomes available.

Florida Farm Bureau remains concerned that the lower lake regulation schedule will create a pattern in which farmers are placed in water restrictions on a more frequent basis. Water restrictions result in lower crop yields. During a time when the cost to grow a crop is at an all-time high, the growers profit margin disappears.

‘River of Grass’ Acquisition Update

Negotiations and an extensive appraisal process are still taking place under the radar of the public. Quite a bit of the governing board meeting was spent by explaining the due diligence taking place to assure that every aspect is being considered. The governing board was assured by staff that all information will come before them in an open, public process for deliberation and that the final decision to move forward is theirs alone.

Many questions for farmers in the Everglades Agricultural Area are yet to be answered among which are:
• Final footprint of the project
• Processing availability if the Clewiston sugar mill and Southern Gardens Citrus processing plant were to cease operations
• Economic viability of their local communities

Several footprints now exist depending on land negotiations and are shown on the next page. The blue areas are those being included in the flow way or pump way project. Land in various shades of green is already owned by SFWMD.
1. This is the typical footprint that is most published by the media. It includes all of the land between the Miami and New River Canal. This footprint involves many landowners and extensive negotiations would have to take place even above the current level of negotiations. This footprint would require the removal of the sugar mill and refinery, the co-generation plant as well as numerous rail lines.
2. The adjusted footprint allows assets such as the sugar process plant, refinery, co-generation plant, and rail lines to remain in place. This footprint also involves many land owners besides U.S. Sugar Corporation.
3. Working within U.S. Sugar lands only, the third footprint involves using canals to move the water between the northern and southern areas of purchased property.
SFWMD Continue Funding of Agricultural Mobile Irrigation Labs

The governing board chose to continue the funding of agricultural mobile irrigation labs (MILs) within the district. ‘MILs perform valuable evaluations on irrigation systems and are extremely important to existing water conservation efforts and emerging policies therein.’ (2008 Florida Farm Bureau Policies)

Florida Farm Bureau thanks the SFWMD for acknowledging the importance of the MIL program to the ongoing water conservation effort in south Florida.