South Florida Water Management District Report: September 2009

South Florida Water Management District Loses One Board Member
 
After being pleased to see a fully seated governing board at last month’s regularly scheduled board meeting, South Florida Water Management District once again has an open seat on the board.
 
Gladys Perez (Attorney) has accepted an appointment by Governor Crist to the Miami-Dade County Court on August 18 after being placed on the water management district governing board only one month earlier.  Ms. Perez served as assistant general counsel to both Governor Jeb Bush and Governor Crist from 2005 to 2008.
 
Florida Farm Bureau Federation encourages Governor Crist to fill this seat in a timely manner so that the residents of Miami-Dade county will be fully represented on the governing board.  The Federation also asks that the Governor fully consider the wide range of water interests in Miami-Dade county including a very active and diverse agricultural industry which supplies the nation with fruits and vegetables in the winter season.
 
 
Water Conditions Remain Ideal as El Niño Strengthens
 
Conditions remain ideal as we are at the mid-point of the 2009 hurricane season.  Rainfall throughout the 16-county region of south Florida is sufficient, steady, and widespread to give crops almost perfect soil moisture in which to grow.  Several localized areas are either too dry or too wet but this is normal in Florida where one area can have a local rainfall event of three inches with little or no rainfall π mile away.
 
Lake Okeechobee, the bellwether surface water instrument for south Florida is at 14.48 feet as of this date.  Last year, the lake elevation in mid September was over 15 feet following the excessive
 
rainfall from Tropical Storm Faye.   Two years ago (2007), the lake elevation in mid-September was just over 9 1/2 feet after falling to a record low that year of 8.82 feet on July 2.

The present level of Lake Okeechobee is following very closely with the historical average.  Barring any management decisions to release excessive amounts of water, lake levels should approach 15 feet by October.  These levels are critical to supply water during the dry months of December through May. 
 
El Niño continues to show signs of strengthening.  If this pattern continues, the peninsula of Florida will have a higher than average chance for rainfall during the typically dry spring season.
 
 
Resolution to Amend Long-Term Plan Goals Sent to Committee
 
An action item on this month’s governing board agenda has been tabled for one month so that it can be addressed in the Project and Lands Committee of the governing board. 

This item was placed on the agenda under the auspices that the ‘River of Grass’ purchase of 73,000 acres from U.S. Sugar Corporation was a ‘done deal’.  Presently, nothing can be further from the truth.  Of particular concern to growers in the Everglades Agricultural Area and the C-139 Basin is diverting funding away from water quality projects already planned or under construction to purchase additional land.
 
Part of the 73,000 acre purchase is a 17,000 acre citrus grove located south of the C-139 Basin.  A proposed change in the Long-Term Plan included water storage construction or water quality features that have cost estimates exceeding one billion dollars.    This is an example of the concerns raised in previous issues of this report.  If all available cash is being used to purchase land, how can projects be funded that have been pledged in prior permits with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to improve water quality?
 
A Long-Term Plan for achieving water quality goals for the Everglades Protection Area Tributary Basins is a requirement of the Everglades Forever Act passed in 1994.  This plan acknowledges that achieving water quality standards involves an adaptive management approach, thus being revised based on new science or other information.