DeSantis rolls out four-year water plan

Workers from the Palm Beach County Parks and Recreation Department pick up dead fish from the Ocean Inlet Park in Ocean Ridge, Florida in October 2018.
Some beaches north of Miami were closed at the time because of a rare red tide outbreak along Florida’s Atlantic coast.
[Joe Cavaretta/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP] DeSantis is asking the Legislature to spend $625 million this year on water projects, the first step toward a roughly $2.5 billion, four-year investment in tackling problems plaguing Lake Okeechobee, nearby rivers and estuaries, freshwater springs and the Everglades.
Ron DeSantis on Tuesday began attempting to put dollars behind that pledge.
DeSantis is asking the Legislature to spend $625 million this year on water projects, the first step toward a roughly $2.5 billion, four-year investment in tackling problems plaguing Lake Okeechobee, nearby rivers and estuaries, freshwater springs and the Everglades.
DeSantis also began reshaping the South Florida Water Management District, whose nine-member board he wants overhauled, having demanded the resignations of current members.
In his budget proposal to the Republican-controlled Legislature, DeSantis is calling for increases in many areas of state environmental spending.
The governor also said the Department of Environmental Protection is seeking applicants for a nine-member, blue-green algae task force, proposed in his executive order.
DeSantis on Tuesday also said that DEP is looking for a chief science officer, another element of his executive order.
Getting the water right protects our future.” Lisa Rinaman, with St. Johns Riverkeeper, said she welcomed the new administration’s attention to sea level concerns.

Efforts to prevent drought

Sorry, we’re having issues playing this video.
Play Video Play Mute Current Time 0:00 / Duration Time 0:00 Loaded: 0% Progress: 0% Stream TypeLIVE Remaining Time -0:00 Playback Rate 1 Chapters Chapters descriptions off, selected Descriptions subtitles off, selected Subtitles captions settings, opens captions settings dialog captions off, selected Captions Audio Track Fullscreen This is a modal window.
Caption Settings Dialog Beginning of dialog window.
Most of South Florida is in a moderate drought, and Lake Okeechobee is sitting at about 12.6 feet above sea level.
“We are a tourist area and people come here to fish the lake, and when the water gets too low they can’t launch their boats,” said Commissioner Bryant Culpepper, Okeechobee County.
Lake Okeechobee’s level is still in the comfort zone to avoid a water shortage, but officials say warnings could be coming.
Lake O serves as a backup water supply for West Palm Beach, and the South Florida Water Management District says water restrictions are not in place because we’re not there yet.
“It causes a lot of external problems when you get a large deviation in the water,” Culpepper said.
Copyright 2019 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Deep injection wells are not a remedy for water management

South Florida is desperate for a solution to Lake Okeechobee’s high-water discharges that hurt the coastal estuaries, their people, economies, and ecosystems.
But proposed deep injection wells (DIW) are just wasteful, permanently flushing excess water underground.
For a system in disarray, letting millions of gallons of water go down the drain may sound attractive, but it’s the wrong move for a state already facing worsening water shortages.
America’s Everglades also need freshwater desperately, not receiving anywhere near their historic flows from Lake Okeechobee.
More: Deep injection wells are old, flawed thinking Water scarcity is the future of Florida.
All five South Florida water regions predict critical shortages in the next 20 years and recommend new projects to store, not trash, water during wet periods to help us get through drier times.
DIW would waste water needed by the Caloosahatchee and Lake Okeechobee during droughts.
Throwing away water will aggravate water scarcity, harming our ecosystems and economy and making people and agriculture fear for tomorrow’s water supply.
Lucky for us, Everglades restoration offers a smarter alternative to DIW that addresses both our wet and dry problems.
Florida and its water managers should keep our focus on Everglades restoration and other good ways to protect Florida’s current and future water supply.

Emergency pumping into Lake Okeechobee ends, pollution concern remains

Emergency pumping into Lake Okeechobee has ended, lessening South Florida flooding risks but creating a water pollution threat that could eventually spread to coastal waters. Concerns about rising waters in western Broward and Miami-Dade counties last month triggered emergency pumping south into Everglades National Park as well as north into Lake Okeechobee. The draining to the south continues, while water levels have dropped enough to stop the pumping into Lake Okeechobee, according to the South Florida Water Management District. About 9.4 billion gallons of potentially polluted water was pumped from a reservoir in southwestern Palm Beach County into Lake Okeechobee from June 24 through Wednesday. That’s enough water to fill more than 14,000 Olympic-size swimming pools, or meet Fort Lauderdale’s public water supply needs for more than six months. While the emergency pumping helped reduce rising Everglades waters in western Broward and Miami-Dade counties, it also risked sending fertilizers and other pollutants that wash off South Florida land into the lake. “We know a lot of stuff has gone into the lake … a lot of stuff we…

Everglades flooding risk could send more water pollution to Lake Okeechobee – Sun Sentinel

Everglades flooding risk could send more water pollution to Lake Okeechobee – Sun Sentinel.
At the start of the summer rainy season, western Broward and Miami-Dade counties are already filling up with too much water too fast.
That has triggered extra pumping to save swamped wildlife and to also head off future risks for western communities.
The emergency pumping is moving water north through Palm Beach County and into Lake Okeechobee — the opposite direction that South Florida’s water supply is supposed to flow.
To send more water south — where it once naturally flowed — the state is asking for federal permission to pump water into drier portions of Everglades National Park and then out into Florida Bay.
“It’s an emergency in the Everglades,” said Ron Bergeron, commissioner for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
“If we don’t pull this trigger, there may be nothing left to save.” Heavy rains this month have boosted water levels about 2 to 3 feet higher than usual in portions of the Everglades that stretch through western Broward and Miami-Dade counties.
To avoid draining more water into western Broward, the state for the first time is pumping water from a reservoir in southwestern Palm Beach County north into Lake Okeechobee.
When the lake rises, its water gets drained to the east and west — spreading pollution threats to coastal waters.
That lake draining can fuel toxic algae blooms that make coastal waterways unsafe for fishing and swimming.

Everglades flooding risk could send more water pollution to Lake Okeechobee

Emergency pumping to ease Everglades flooding could end up worsening pollution in Lake Okeechobee. At the start of the summer rainy season, western Broward and Miami-Dade counties are already filling up with too much water too fast. That has triggered extra pumping to save swamped wildlife and to also head off future risks for western communities. The emergency pumping is moving water north through Palm Beach County and into Lake Okeechobee — the opposite direction that South Florida’s water supply is supposed to flow. To send more water south — where it once naturally flowed — the state is asking for federal permission to pump water into drier portions of Everglades National Park and then out into Florida Bay. “It’s an emergency in the Everglades,” said Ron Bergeron, commissioner for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. “If we don’t pull this trigger, there may be nothing left to save.” Heavy rains this month have boosted water levels about 2 to 3 feet higher than usual in portions of the Everglades that stretch through western Broward and Miami-Dade counties. To avoid draining more water into western Broward, the state for the first time is pumping water from a reservoir in southwestern Palm Beach County north…

Palm Beach County drought abates, but water order still in place

Palm Beach County drought abates, but water order still in place.
A report released Thursday by the National Drought Mitigation Center shows 33 percent of Florida is in severe drought — mostly in central and western parts of the state — with another 24 percent in a moderate drought.
While 73 percent of Palm Beach County has no drought, that includes 23 percent still considered “abnormally dry.” An area in the far western part of the county was labeled in moderate-to-severe drought in Thursday’s report.
“The area impacted by Sunday’s rain was so small.” Related: Five things to know about La Niña In the 16-county region covered by the water management district, the seasonal rainfall since November has been just 50 percent of normal.
As of Thursday, coastal Palm Beach County had received 61 percent of its normal seasonal rainfall and is down 7.1 inches.
Western Palm Beach County is down 6.3 inches of rain and has received 47 percent of what’s normal.
While rainfall is a key element in the weekly drought report, the level of South Florida’s three water conservation areas and groundwater levels are also considered, said Geoff Shaughnessy, a meteorologist with the water management district.
Three wildfires totalling more than 100,000 acres burned on federally managed properties.
The so-called West Mims Fire may not be out until November, said Susan Granbery, a public information officer working on the fire with the Georgia Forestry Commission.
Since 1932, virtually all wet seasons have produced 2 to 4 feet of rain, according to the water management district.

Just in: Florida’s drought may mean mandatory water cutbacks soon

Just in: Florida’s drought may mean mandatory water cutbacks soon.
About 34 percent of Florida is now in a severe drought with an additional 35 percent either in moderate drought or abnormally dry.
Pete Kwiatkowski, director of the district’s resource evaluation division, said a lack of rain has depleted groundwater supplies so much that some wells are near record low levels.
“Because it’s been so dry and water demands are increasing for irrigation, it’s a double whammy,” Kwiatkowski said.
It also means the district will increase in communication with local governments and the public about potential water shortages.
“We are obviously going to need some more rain and it will start raining,” said John Mitnik, the district’s chief engineer.
“It’s just a question of when and how much it’s going to rain.” A report released this morning by the National Drought Mitigation Center shows that while Palm Beach County’s drought has improved, a substantial amount of the center and southwest part of the state has worsened.
The driest areas in the county are in the far west on the southern edge of Lake Okeechobee.
The report comes as Florida is under a state of emergency because of dozens of wildfires burning throughout the state.
A fire in the Big Cypress National Preserve north of Interstate 75 has burned 16,000 acres.