Converted
05-02-2005, 01:10 PM
I'm not sure what to think of this...
By Neil Santaniello
Staff Writer
Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com
Posted May 1 2005
http://sun-sentinel.com/news/sfl-prefuge01may01.story
Walls are a defining feature of the modern, engineered Everglades,
subdividing and controlling its water flows.
Now a plan is being floated to add yet another one -- eight miles long at a
potential cost of $10 million -- to the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee
National Wildlife Refuge.
The Lake Worth Drainage District has said that a berm in the wildlife
preserve would help ensure deliveries of water from the refuge into its
grid of 511 miles of canals used to irrigate farm fields and charge wells
in south and central Palm Beach County.
The berm, which would wall-in the west side of refuge's L-40 rim canal from
Wellington to west of Delray Beach, also should pay environmental dividends
to the 145,000-acre wildlife refuge and the South Florida Water Management
District, which runs an Everglades-cleanup program, the drainage district
said.
"We think it solves a lot of problems," drainage district spokeswoman Danna
Ackerman-White said.
The berm would allow the water district to send excess Lake Okeechobee
water, too high in phosphorus for the refuge's health but OK for urban
uses, safely around the edge of the preserve to feed the drainage district.
That could reduce damaging diversions of lake water to the St. Lucie and
Calooshatchee estuaries while reducing flows to Everglades filter marshes
and lessening the wear-and-tear they sustain from cleaning higher volumes
of water, the agency said. It would also help maintain higher water levels
in the refuge in dry weather, the agency said.
The environmental group Audubon of Florida opposes the concept. Water
managers need to improve their Everglades filtering system by adding more
land to it, not by moving pollution from one location to another, said
Audubon's Deputy Director Mark Kraus.
"What you really need to do is treat that water, not send the problem
somewhere else," Kraus said.
But the refuge's federal caretaker, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, is
more open to the idea. Refuge Manager Mark Musaus said the berm would
constitute a huge alteration to the wildlife area but said, "We think it's
definitely worth considering."
The drainage district doesn't know what form the berm should take. The
district is pitching the proposal to the South Florida Water Management
District, which leases the refuge land to the wildlife service, and to
state legislators, in the hopes that one or both would provide funds to
build the berm if the plan wins approval, Ackerman-White said. Either the
water management district or the Army Corps of Engineers would build the
berm.
The drainage district relies on withdrawals from the refuge for up to 60
percent of its water needs. But it has run into obstacles obtaining those
infusions in recent years.
Two-thirds of a filter marsh that cleans storm water before it enters the
refuge is out of commission, damaged after being overwhelmed with water
from the lowering of Lake Okeechobee and the hurricanes last summer.
Another filter marsh nearby does not have final approval to operate.
Another obstacle flew in last spring, migratory birds called black-necked
stilts are raising their young in the northwest filter marsh. Their
protected nests got in the way of filtered water deliveries from the
cleanup marsh. "We've had numerous things that have happened in the past
that have made [the refuge] nonreliable for our water supply," Ackerman-
White said.
Neil Santaniello can be reached at nsantaniello@sun-sentinel.com or
561-243-6625.
http://sun-sentinel.com/news/sfl-prefuge01may01.story
By Neil Santaniello
Staff Writer
Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com
Posted May 1 2005
http://sun-sentinel.com/news/sfl-prefuge01may01.story
Walls are a defining feature of the modern, engineered Everglades,
subdividing and controlling its water flows.
Now a plan is being floated to add yet another one -- eight miles long at a
potential cost of $10 million -- to the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee
National Wildlife Refuge.
The Lake Worth Drainage District has said that a berm in the wildlife
preserve would help ensure deliveries of water from the refuge into its
grid of 511 miles of canals used to irrigate farm fields and charge wells
in south and central Palm Beach County.
The berm, which would wall-in the west side of refuge's L-40 rim canal from
Wellington to west of Delray Beach, also should pay environmental dividends
to the 145,000-acre wildlife refuge and the South Florida Water Management
District, which runs an Everglades-cleanup program, the drainage district
said.
"We think it solves a lot of problems," drainage district spokeswoman Danna
Ackerman-White said.
The berm would allow the water district to send excess Lake Okeechobee
water, too high in phosphorus for the refuge's health but OK for urban
uses, safely around the edge of the preserve to feed the drainage district.
That could reduce damaging diversions of lake water to the St. Lucie and
Calooshatchee estuaries while reducing flows to Everglades filter marshes
and lessening the wear-and-tear they sustain from cleaning higher volumes
of water, the agency said. It would also help maintain higher water levels
in the refuge in dry weather, the agency said.
The environmental group Audubon of Florida opposes the concept. Water
managers need to improve their Everglades filtering system by adding more
land to it, not by moving pollution from one location to another, said
Audubon's Deputy Director Mark Kraus.
"What you really need to do is treat that water, not send the problem
somewhere else," Kraus said.
But the refuge's federal caretaker, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, is
more open to the idea. Refuge Manager Mark Musaus said the berm would
constitute a huge alteration to the wildlife area but said, "We think it's
definitely worth considering."
The drainage district doesn't know what form the berm should take. The
district is pitching the proposal to the South Florida Water Management
District, which leases the refuge land to the wildlife service, and to
state legislators, in the hopes that one or both would provide funds to
build the berm if the plan wins approval, Ackerman-White said. Either the
water management district or the Army Corps of Engineers would build the
berm.
The drainage district relies on withdrawals from the refuge for up to 60
percent of its water needs. But it has run into obstacles obtaining those
infusions in recent years.
Two-thirds of a filter marsh that cleans storm water before it enters the
refuge is out of commission, damaged after being overwhelmed with water
from the lowering of Lake Okeechobee and the hurricanes last summer.
Another filter marsh nearby does not have final approval to operate.
Another obstacle flew in last spring, migratory birds called black-necked
stilts are raising their young in the northwest filter marsh. Their
protected nests got in the way of filtered water deliveries from the
cleanup marsh. "We've had numerous things that have happened in the past
that have made [the refuge] nonreliable for our water supply," Ackerman-
White said.
Neil Santaniello can be reached at nsantaniello@sun-sentinel.com or
561-243-6625.
http://sun-sentinel.com/news/sfl-prefuge01may01.story