This Year the SFWMD Receives an A+ for Sending Water South! SLR/IRL

This slide from Jeff Kivett at the SFWMD shows Regional Flows "south," for Water Year 2014-2015 or May 22014 thorough April 2015.
This slide was to sent to me from Jeff Kivett of the SFWMD. It shows Regional Flows “south,” for Water Year 2014-2015 or May 2014 thorough April 2015.
Map south of Lake O. showing EAA, STAs, and WCAs. (Map Everglades Foundation, public)
Map south of Lake O. showing EAA, STAs, and WCAs. Everglades is south as is Florida Bay. (Map public.)

I was a teacher for many years. I taught 8th, 9th, and 11th grade English and German. Throughout my career, whether the students were 13 or 17 years old, there was nothing better for them than “getting an A.”

I don’t think in my ten-year career, I ever gave an A plus.

Until now that is….  🙂

The South Florida Water Management District deserves an A plus for their creative, determined, and difficult work “sending water south” in a politically explosive environment. —-Probably the worst mine fields in the state…

For “WATER YEAR REGIONAL FLOWS May 2014, through April 2015” at least 585,000 acre feet of water was sent south to the Storm Water treatment Areas and into the Water Conservation Areas. This translated into 565,000 acre feet of water to starved Everglades National Park.

To appreciate this achievement one must compare:

This chart from Dr Gary Goforth shows water flow comparisons for water years 1995-2015. (Courtesy Dr Gary Goforth 7-22-15.)
This chart from Dr Gary Goforth shows water flow comparisons for water years 1995-2015. (Courtesy Dr Gary Goforth who worked for the SFWMD and was key in designing the STAs. 7-22-15.)

The chart above, courtesy of Dr Gary Goforth, shows acre feet of water going to STAs from 1995-2015. The highest number ever. The colors show the different STAs the water went through.

Sometimes when studying “sending water south” it gets VERY confusing as more water was sent south in 1995, but this water was sent when there were very few STAs and so Florida Bay got pounded with nitrogen and phosphorus laden Lake Okeechobee, and I would think some water from the Everglades Agricultural Area….

The Storm Water Treatment Areas clean the water…

It must be noted that some grading the system may think differently as South Florida certian water users and agriculture have been afraid we were, or are almost going into a drought or that the STA were overused. Some may say the ACOE and SFWMD district “should not have sent so much water south, but rather stored it in the lake…”  Maybe they are right. Today I will not judge, but reward.

So anyway, “to repeat myself IRL students,” 🙂  THIS YEAR THE SOUTH FLORIDA WATER MANAGEMENT DISTRICT HAS SENT MORE WATER SOUTH TO THE STAs THAN EVER BEFORE.

You may recall that the Army Corp of Engineers opened the gates to the St Lucie River on January 16th 2015 and this did not stop until late May. This water charted going south this year helped alleviate our destruction. It could have been worse… If they weren’t sending it south, it may have gone to “us.”

My hope is that water management becomes the top-cool thing to do for future generations, and that many River Kidz and even more young people from all over the world and our nation, come to our state to work, learn and study water management. It is a politically explosive and difficult work environment, but nothing is more important for the people and the for wildlife of our state.

I admit that I am part of that politically explosive environment..but my heart really is with the living creatures of the Earth and its waters. May we overcome our genetically wired warlike behavior, send the water south, and save the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon….

Thank you South Florida Water Management District for your outstanding work! Yes there are great difficulties, but for a better water future, we are counting on you!

The next generation! (Public photo of a shore bird baby in the Everglades.)
The next generation! (Public photo of a shore bird baby in the Everglades.)

SFWMD: (http://www.sfwmd.gov/portal/page/portal/levelthree/weather%20%20water)

5 thoughts on “This Year the SFWMD Receives an A+ for Sending Water South! SLR/IRL”

  1. Thank you for letting my firm opinion be heard. Storm water runoff–phosphorus–nutrients—nitrogen–septic tanks–lawn clippings–farm animals are not the problem. The real problem is the all for me and none for you rotten to the core state government that I grew up with has not changed one bit. Our lagoon has the potential to feed everyone and since they passed the no gill net law this State government sees no longer having control of the food as a real threat to them and their special interest. It is no coincidence that ALL our sewage treatment plants are now located on our lagoon either.The fact that I can still say this for everyone to read says that maby there is still hope left

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  2. Thank you Jacqui for being open to all views, the extensive research that you have done to educate yourself on the water, and other, issues – and sharing your “findings” with us through this Blog. The fact that you are willing to give credit when credit is due is commendable. Being among the “political class” I find this especially noteworthy and representative of “the best” that we hope our political leaders – to be.

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  3. The wind has blow strong out of the southwest now for several weeks. causeing waves to beat hard on the east shore.The indian mitten I talked about before has all kinds of fish around it. the shore foams from the violent reaction with the shells. So much sea grass is growing here that the mullet can not eat it all. YES we are very similar in our desire for our sick lagoon to be the lagoon we knew so the next generation will take better care of it than our generation. The big diferance between us where we get our information on how to fix the lagoon..

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