South Florida Dries Up: Past Year Sees Water-Use Limits, Focus on ‘Glades
By Kevin Wadlow, Florida Keys Keynoter, Marathon
Dec. 29–The Florida Keys have endured years of bad nearshore water and too much stormwater, but 2007 was the year of almost no water.
An extended drought that never really broke forced the most restrictive water rules ever imposed on Keys residents – then got more restrictive in mid-December.
“We are heading into uncharted territory,” said Carol Ann Wehle, executive director of the South Florida Water Management District as the agency enacted an emergency order Dec. 13.
All of the 16-county district’s 5 million residents, including those in the Keys, will be required to abide by a one-day-a-week schedule for watering lawns and landscaping beginning Jan. 15. A short period of daily watering by hand will be allowed.
Rainfall was nearly 20 percent below average over South Florida in 2007 – and 2006 was worse.
Expecting a third straight busy hurricane season, water managers lowered the levels of Lake Okeechobee early this year. When few tropical storms dampened South Florida, the lake critical to South Florida’s water supply in July dropped to its lowest level ever recorded.
A handful of civil citations were issued in Monroe County for violating water-use restrictions. Most involved automatic sprinkling systems that were not updated to the reduced watering schedule.
“It has not been a headache” to enforce, county Code Enforcement Director Ronda Norman said. “Just about everybody has been very good about it.”
Lake Okeechobee also posted new all-time lows for the months of November and December.
The Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority in 2007 moved forward on plans to build a desalination plant at its Florida City wellfield to treat brackish from the deep Floridan Aquifer. The state has capped withdrawals from the Biscayne Aquifer that has supplied drinking water to South Florida for generations.
Over the summer, the Aqueduct Authority also launched a program to help 300 Keys households with low-flush toilets, which could save an estimated 4.5 million gallons of water annually.
“This is a great opportunity to address one of the biggest water wasters we have,” an agency spokeswoman said.
The Keys enjoyed a 2007 hurricane season described as “fortunate” by Monroe County Emergency Management Director Irene Toner.
Hurricane season saw 14 tropical storms tracked, but that was fewer than long-range forecasts predicted. While two of the hurricanes reached Category 5 (a rarity), none did significant damage to the Keys or South Florida.
Hurricane season actually benefited Key West, with early-season storms causing several cruise ships to use the Keys port as an alternative to islands in the hurricane track.
In September, the National Marine Fisheries Service said it would issue this coming January a decision on whether to seek critical-habitat designation for the staghorn and elkhorn corals. The branching corals were designated as “threatened” in 2006.
In November, federal officials acknowledged that the Everglades restoration plan, announced to great fanfare in 2000, has fallen sharply behind schedule because promised federal money for an array of projects never materialized. Falling real-estate sales and the subsequent money they would put into state coffers also could choke off state allocations for the Everglades, state legislators said in December.
Everglades National Park covers most of mainland Monroe County, and improved water flow was expected to help restore Florida Bay.
Instead, blue-green algae blooms covered parts of Florida Bay for much of 2007. While not a deadly toxin like red-tide algae, the blue-green algae clouds waters and may cause the death of some bottom-dwelling organisms.
Hundreds of Keys boaters turned out at 2007 meetings on the future of Florida Bay, after an Everglades National Park proposal suggested large tracts possibly could be declared a no-motor zone.
“That’s so drastic it’s ridiculous,” said Ted D’Esposito, a retired offshore captain.
Groups spearheaded by Islamorada-area anglers and guides instead offered their own plan, called Alternative E, to protect the bay. Its measures include some type of boating permit for bay waters.
The park is expected to release its preferred plan for Florida Bay in early 2008.
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Copyright (c) 2007, Florida Keys Keynoter, Marathon
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