Restoring the Everglades

The heat is building on booming South Florida to change its ways. As scientific evidence of serious problems with the Everglades has grown, so has the pressure on the region’s big coastal cities and sugarcane plantations to take a hard look at their impact on the South Florida water supply.

Earlier this year, the Clinton administration called for a major expansion of efforts to study and restore the Everglades, which serve as a vast wetlands filter and crucial source of recharge for the fresh water tapped by South Florida’s cities and farms. The administration proposed spending at least $500 million over the next several years for land acquisition and projects to return some degree of natural water flow to the Everglades, a flow that was drastically altered in previous decades by an extensive network of canals and levees.

Congress took an initial step by including around $200 million in the 1996 farm bill, largely for purchasing “buffer zones” that will help cleanse pollution from agricultural runoff. Experts predict that as many as 100,000 acres of agricultural land south of Lake Okeechobee will need to be acquired and taken out of production for the sake of Everglades restoration.

The Clinton administration has also endorsed a penny-a-pound tax on sugar produced in the Everglades region to generate restoration funds in addition to the more than $300 million that sugar companies agreed to contribute in a 1993 settlement with the federal government.

This month’s elections will no doubt shape the future of any sugar taxes, federal spending for land purchases or other elements of restoration plans. But regardless of the outcome, it seems clear that the health of the Everglades has become a priority in the management of South Florida’s water supply by regional, state and federal authorities.

“The Everglades are undeniably linked to protecting the drinking water supply [in South Florida], and that has made it an issue that everyone recognizes as important,” says Susan Markley, chief of the Natural Resources Division of Dade County’s Department of Environmental Resources Management. “Not everyone goes fishing in Florida Bay, but everyone turns on the tap in the morning.”

The cities and counties of South Florida are working to figure out where they fit in the restoration picture.

“It’s hard for me to say what the main role for local government is, because there really isn’t one, and that is one of the things we’re concerned about,” Markley says.

She says officials from Dade and other local governments have attended the many meetings sponsored by federal agencies and made extensive and well-received comments. But the concern is that cities and counties do not yet have a formal place at the table in many restoration efforts.

“I think that, in the beginning, [local governments] felt like no one was listening, and we were becoming the sacrificial lambs,” says Palm Beach County Commissioner Karen Marcus. “I think we feel we are being listened to now, but I don’t believe the local governments feel yet like we’re in the role we should be in. We just want to be a partner, a player. We don’t want someone just drawing up a plan and handing it to us and saying, `This is the way it’s going to be.'”

Nevertheless, it seems that, at the very least, communities will be forced to use their share of water more efficiently, as greater consideration is given to the water needs of the Everglades’ ecosystems.

To that end, Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties and local cities are talking about ways to reuse wastewater. They are also participating, as partners with state and federal agencies, in the acquisition of land for water filtration and storage, both to help protect the quality of water and to ensure sufficient local supplies during periods of drought.

For example, Dade County agreed to contribute approximately $90 million in matching funds for land purchases, while Broward and Palm Beach counties each passed referendums to provide around $50 million, according to Sam Poole, executive director of the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD).

The goal is to make better use of the water that is available.

“This is an issue of ensuring that the land uses are compatible with water storage and recharge,” Markley says. “Most experts have come to the conclusion that it’s not that there isn’t enough water; it just has not been allocated properly.”

THE RIVER OF GRASS

To understand today’s situation, 1947 is a good place to start. That was the year Everglades National Park (ENP) was established in the southern counties of Dade and Monroe, and Marjory Stoneman Douglas published “Everglades: River of Grass,” her well-known paean to the region’s natural bounties. Just one year later, a massive drainage project was initiated that would dramatically alter the same pristine scene Douglas described in her book.

“South, southeast and southwest [of Lake Okeechobee], where the lake water slopped and seeped and ran over and under rock and soil, the greatest mass of the sawgrass begins,” Douglas wrote. “It stretches as it always has stretched, in one thick enormous curving river of grass, to the very end. This is the Everglades.”

Each year, four million acre-feet of water on average flowed in a sheet southward at the time of Douglas’ description. The tremendous volume of fresh water fed the diverse ecosystems of the Everglades, from vast wetlands to upland forests of pines and hardwoods.

For the burgeoning human population, however, that water could be a problem. The regular flooding for which the 4,000-square-mile system had been “engineered” by nature put a serious limit on the growth of cities and agriculture. In the same year Douglas’ hook was published, two hurricanes and record rainfall left three million acres of the region under water for several months and caused around $60 million in damage.

That was enough to convince Congress to authorize the Central and Southern Florida (C&SF) project the next year for the purpose of flood control and water management. A variety of smaller, local drainage projects had been undertaken in previous decades, but the C&SF project was meant to be a comprehensive solution for the entire region.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (COE) was given the task of re-routing the flow of water in the region to control flooding and meet the water supply needs of urban and farming areas, while at the same time guaranteeing sufficient flows southward to the protected ENP.

Keeping cities on the east coast dry and draining land for expansion were priorities, so a series of perimeter levees 100 miles long was first constructed to control eastward flooding from the Everglades. The levees were built up about 18 miles west of West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale and Miami and about six miles west of Homestead in south Dade County.

The COE then constructed several hundred more miles of levees and canals to establish three multi-purpose Water Conservation Areas (WCAs), intended to support wildlife while serving as floodwater retention basins and sources of water in dry periods. The COE also built canals, levees and pumping stations to control the flow of water into the 700,000-acre Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) south of Lake Okeechobee in Palm Beach County. The EAA today is home to much of the agriculture, especially large-scale sugarcane farming, that is one of the region’s trademarks. It is also the area from which restoration plans have proposed reclaiming a large chunk to bring back a more natural flow and storage of water.

In all, around $1 billion was spent during the ’50s end ’60s to re-work the natural drainage of South Florida. The new water network eventually included 990 miles of levees, 978 miles of canals, 30 pumping stations and 212 other control or diversion structures, according to a background report from the federal South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Working Group.

The Working Group — part of a task force formed in 1993 under a five-year agreement among the Departments of Interior, Commerce, Army, Justice and Agriculture and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) — was charged with assessing the damage to South Florida’s ecosystems and setting priorities and strategies for restoring these systems. This group has led much of the work that the Clinton administration proposed to expand earlier this year.

RETHINKING THE SYSTEM

The Working Group’s 1994 annual report describes the major impacts of the re-routing of South Florida’s water, including tremendous growth in the area’s cities and counties as well as widespread changes in the environment.

South Florida had been growing in the first half of the 1900s, but the real boom came as the C&SF project was being completed. The population of the lower east coast reached 694,000 in 1950, more than three times what it had been just 20 years earlier. The figure hit 2.2 million in 1970 and nearly doubled again by 1990.

The population grew from around 727,000 in 1945 to 6.3 million in 1990 in the 18-county jurisdiction of the SFWMD, the region’s water management and flood control authority and local “sponsor” of the C&SF project. And, projections show the current South Florida population tripling within 50 years.

An ever-increasing demand for water for urban and agricultural uses and the spread of growth westward into areas that were once part of the Everglades, have been the obvious impacts of such tremendous growth. These impacts will intensify if population projections hold true.

According to the Working Group’s report, “roughly 50 percent of the pre-drainage wetlands has been lost to agricultural, industrial and residential development, especially the peripheral wetlands on the eastern side of the Everglades and continue to be incrementally diminished by wetland permitting programs.”

A 1995 report from the Conservation Fund’s Sustainable Everglades Initiative gives the following numbers for the pre-drainage Everglades: 32 percent has been designated as part of the WCAs, 27 percent has been converted to agricultural uses, 20 percent has been preserved in areas like the ENP, 12 percent has been converted to urban uses, and 9 percent is drained but still undeveloped.

This scheme of use for the South Florida landscape has significantly altered the natural sheet flow of water and generated concerns about both the quantity and quality of this water. In terms of volume, about half of the four million acre-feet that once flowed south from Lake Okeechobee and through the Everglades is now channeled to the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico.

That is clearly putting a serious dent in the amount of water available to meet the growing needs of farming areas and cities, while also feeding the diverse populations of plants and wildlife that thrive in the Everglades. Still, it may seem strange to talk about shortages of water in swampy South Florida, which gets 56 inches of rainfall on average each year.

But the annual totals fluctuate significantly, and several wet years of 80 inches of rainfall may be followed by a period of drought that sees only 40 inches. It is in these lean times, experts say, that the faults of today’s system are exposed.

Flood control efforts, which emphasize draining water quickly, and patterns of land use result in a lack of sufficient water “in the bank” for periods of low rainfall.

“When you start developing policies that are all based on getting water off your land, there are huge impacts on down the line,” says Dan Williams, an associate professor at the University of Miami’s Center for Urban and Community Design and a leader of the South Dade Watershed Project.

According to Poole, “The problem that [the present situation] creates from a water management point of view is that you can go from a huge rainfall surplus to a record drought the next year. We don’t have a lot of resiliency in the Everglades any longer, as a result of the development that has occurred.”

Poole compares the Everglades today to a “reservoir” that has been partially drained, paved over and built upon, a pattern of use that chips away at the reservoir’s ability to filter and store water. In this case, that means the Everglades are less and less able to recharge the Biscayne aquifer tapped by Broward and Dade counties, as well as the surface water supply used by Palm Beach County.

“More people move in and demand drainage, while at the same time demanding a supply of water,” Poole says. “We have continually shaved the margin to the point where now, in periods of drought, we don’t have enough water.”

Along with concerns over water shortages, there are also prominent warning signs about the quality of South Florida’s water supply.

In 1986, for example, an algae bloom covered one-fifth of the surface of Lake Okeechobee. Phosphorus pollution from EAA stormwater back-pumping was widely blamed as a major culprit.

Runoff from the EAA has also been blamed for problems in other parts of the Ever glades. The federal government attacked these problems in 1988 by suing the SFWMD and the state environmental protection department, charging that these agencies had failed to enforce Florida’s own water quality standards.

The lawsuit focused on nutrient enrichment in ENP and the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge in Palm Beach County. A mediated settlement reached in 1991 established a timetable for the state to implement nutrient reduction programs, including land purchases to create stormwater treatment areas near the refuge. The region’s sugar companies agreed to contribute more than $300 million to these clean-up programs as part of the settlement.

The litany of problems that researchers tie to both the quality of South Florida’s water and its current flow and usage also includes:

* hypersalinity, algae blooms, seagrass die-off and fishkills in Florida Bay, a prime fishing and tourism spot at the state’s southern tip;

* a reported decline of approximately 90 percent in the numbers of wading birds nesting in the Everglades; and

* the threat of salt-water intrusion into the east coast water supply as the Biscayne aquifer is drawn down more quickly than it is recharged by water from the Everglades.

The prospect of escalating damage to the “river of grass” and the region it supports has generated much discussion and some action. Government agencies on all levels, as well as private groups, are looking at ways to restore parts of the system’s natural function and better protect the Everglades for the future.

The Working Group, the COE’s Central and South Florida Restudy project, the Sustainable Everglades Initiative and the South Dade Watershed Project are among the various public and private efforts. At the state level, the push for restoration is coming largely through the Governor’s Commission for a Sustainable South Florida and legislation like the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Everglades Protection Act of 1991 and the Everglades Forever Act of 1994.

Another part of the picture is the Lower East Coast Water Supply Plan, initiated by the SFWMD in 1991. The SFWMD began looking at various scenarios for water use over the next 10 years, 20 years or more, with the health of the Everglades a greater priority than in the past.

The plan’s timetable has been pushed back several times, but a release date is expected next year, according to Erik Olson, director of utilities for West Palm Beach. Olson says local governments on the coast, which receive consumptive use permits from the SFWMD, are concerned about the availability of water under the plan in particular, and Everglades restoration in general.

“It is a very emotional issue in South Florida right now,” he says.

Changes in the canal networks could mean, for example, less water for parts of Palm Beach County and the 21-square-mile wetlands system that supplies water to West Palm Beach, and “that’s when the reality begins to hit,” Olson says.

West Palm Beach’s reaction has been to begin developing a regional integrated water supply plan for northern and central Palm Beach County. The city has received help and approval from the SFWMD and the Working Group and $5 million from Congress this year.

Providing a model of self-reliance for other coastal communities in South Florida is a key goal for the regional plan, according to Olson. The idea is that, if restoration efforts allocate ore water back to the Everglades, cities like West Palm Beach will need to use their share of water more efficiently and promote increased storage for dry times.

West Palm Beach has taken the lead in developing the regional plan and has brought together Jupiter and other cities, the county and the area’s special water districts.

“Ultimately, we will probably develop a local water supply authority for this area,” Olson says. This new local agency would have authority over individual cities and special districts in Palm Beach, but would be a rung below the SFWMD.

A “Wetlands-Based Water Reclamation Program,” calling for around 2,000 acres of wetlands to be created and replenished by treated wastewater, is also a key part of West Palm Beach’s efforts. Wastewater would be filtered naturally in the wetlands, then eventually withdrawn, treated and used by the city and others as potable water.

Olson says that, although several local governments like West Palm Beach are working on water supply and restoration issues, other South Florida communities are dragging their feet a bit.

“I don’t think true seriousness has hit yet,” he says. “I think that if we run into a [period of drought] now, it will be a real wake-up call for people.”

FOCUS ON SUSTAINABILITY

Sustainability — defined as “the ability … to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs” by the World Commission on Environment and Development — is clearly one of the buzzwords and a common thread in many efforts both to restore the Everglades and protect the water supply.

For example, sustainability is a key part of Governor’s Commission efforts like “Eastward Ho!” — a program calling for redevelopment of existing urban areas on the coast. The idea is to revitalize older areas with new growth rather than have new growth spread farther west into the wetlands.

The concept of sustainability is also prominent in the SFWMD’s thinking. Poole argues that, in the long run, the current pattern of sprawl will be more costly in terms of natural resources, water rates and the overall pressure on local governments to provide services.

“[Sprawl] consumes huge amounts of land and other natural resources, including water,” he says. “It’s a very wasteful way of using these resources.

“When you run up against the levee, and there is no new growth, you start wondering how you will balance [local] budgets. As long as you continue to grow and add [to the tax base], things continue to bump along, but when you run out of land or the growth slows down, the whole thing starts to crash, and South Florida is approaching those limits.”

Poole argues land-use patterns must change if the region and its water supply are to remain healthy.

“I think local governments are going to have to permit a different kind of development, or, better stated, they’re going to have to not permit the kind of development that has been characteristic of South Florida since the Second World War,” he says.

But this approach means a dramatic change, and cities and counties are not necessarily convinced. Urban redevelopment and sustainability in general have remained more theory than common practice. “The words are there,” says Jim Murley, secretary of the state’s Department of Community Affairs. “We’re still trying to get them into application.”

Palm Beach Commissioner Marcus agrees there has been more talk than action, but says the will to alter patterns of land use does exist at the local level. “I think everyone is trying to buy into [sustainability], but saying it and doing it are very different things. It’s a very different approach for South Florida, because we’re used to taking some vacant land, bulldozing it and putting up some concrete,” she says. “Our goal in Palm Beach County is not to become [too] urbanized of a community. I’m not sure that growth necessarily is good. I think you have to have a balance.”

Many agree that traditional patterns cannot continue in South Florida. Whose land will be affected, however, is a major point of contention.

“Where it gets sticky,” says Dade’s Markley, “is when you start drawing lines on a map.”

City uses new method to count particle in water

For the past two years, the Little Rock (Ark.) Municipal Water Works (LRMWW) has used a new procedure to monitor the level of residual biotic particles in drinking water as the water is treated. The procedure has demonstrated improved treatment process efficiency for particle removal that will help safeguard the microbiological quality of drinking water in the service area.

The acridine orange direct count (AODC) method offers a faster, more precise visual and quantitative assessment of the water’s microbiological quality by employing acridine orange as a stain in tandem with a high-resolution, epifluorescence microscope. The stained cells in a water sample become fluorescent and clearly discernible under the microscope’s ultraviolet light. The population of native cells that become visible in a water sample subjected to the AODC method is two orders to three orders of magnitude greater than that with the heterotrophic plate count (HPC) method and seven orders to eight orders greater than found in a coliform count.

Conventional HPC or coliform counts subject water samples to specific cultures over a specified time. Therefore, they can only isolate a particular bacterium or group under these conditions. The results of these conventional methods often exaggerate the performance of the treatment process and its removal efficiency.

“AODC permits direct enumeration and improved assessment of treatment process performance in removing biotic particles,” says Craig Noble, the director of production for the LRMWW. “It provides a clearer profile of all residual bacterial cells and can therefore aid us in tracking progressive reduction [of the cells] as our water undergoes sequential stages of production.

“Basically, we run the test on raw water, and after various processes like rapid mix and flocculation,” Noble says. “We can develop a profile as to the percentage of reduction. If we run the AODC procedure test, and we don’t see results, maybe we need to feed more coagulant, or something needs to be changed.”

The Little Rock plant first began operation in 1993, according to Noble. The city hired Burns & McDonnell, Kansas City, Mo., to carry out plant start-up and operation, and at the consultant’s recommendation, bought an epiflourescence microscope, a gas chromatograph and TOC analyzer to test different treatment analyses in-house.