Lake Okeechobee Protection Act Permit – Operations Authorization
Questions and Answers January 2007
What action is the Department of Environmental Protection taking?
The Department is noticing its Intent to Issue a five-year permit to the South Florida Water Management District for the operation and maintenance of 35 water control structures, including gates, culverts, and pumps, that convey water into and out of Lake Okeechobee.
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Why does the South Florida Water Management District need this permit?
In 2000, the Florida Legislature passed the Lake Okeechobee Protection Act to preserve and restore the 730 square-mile lake known as the ‘liquid heart’ of America’s Everglades. The law establishes a roadmap for implementing one of the world’s largest restoration programs and requires the South Florida Water Management District to obtain a State permit for operating the structures that move water around the lake.
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What does the permit require?
The permit:
- Requires structures to be operated consistent with the federal Lake Okeechobee Regulation Schedule, and the state Lake Okeechobee Protection Plan -- a comprehensive, science-based plan and schedule for reducing phosphorus loads to Lake Okeechobee required by the Lake Okeechobee Protection Act.
- Restricts the transfer of water into Lake Okeechobee from the Everglades Agriculture Area, known as backpumping, at the S-2 and S-3 structures and requires the District to coordinate and report backpumping activities to the State.
- Requires regional annual evaluations.
- Establishes four regions within the Lake Okeechobee watershed and a stringent target phosphorus load for each region for meeting, by 2015, the Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDL) --the maximum amount of a pollutant that a water body can assimilate without exceeding water quality standards.
- Includes a comprehensive plan for monitoring water quality.
- Authorizes the installation and operation of temporary forward pumps needed to convey water south of the lake for water supply when water levels are low and for lake restoration under certain conditions.
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What are the benefits to having all structures under one permit?
Having all 35 structures covered by a single permit provides the District with flexibility in managing water throughout the entire watershed and achieving the targets for reducing phosphorus loads to Lake Okeechobee consistent with its other state and federal obligations including flood control and water supply.
Rather than assigning a phosphorus load limit to each individual structure, the regional targets allow the State to evaluate the watershed holistically and take into account how water is interrelated within the watershed.
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Why does the SFWMD need temporary forward pumps?
It is recognized that the ecology of Lake Okeechobee is improved by maintaining the Lake at lower water levels. The temporary pumps will give the District the flexibility necessary to maintain the lake at lower levels without the risk of compromising water supply needs. When lake elevations are low, below 10.2 feet, natural (gravity) flow is limited. The temporary forward pumps are necessary to force water to flow from Lake Okeechobee down the canals to the water supply users.
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What are the monitoring requirements included in the permit?
The permit requires monitoring for a range of chemical and physical parameters at all of the structures owned and operated by the District. The parameters identified in the permit will provide an accurate assessment of the health of Lake Okeechobee to protect to for its intended functions.
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What effect will the permit have on the restoration of Lake Okeechobee?
To reduce the impact of nutrients, improve water quality and protect Lake Okeechobee, the State has adopted a TMDL for the lake of 140 metric tons of phosphorus, which includes the 35 metric tons of phosphorus contributed by rainfall each year. The restoration goal is to reduce phosphorus loads within the watershed by 60-75 percent such that the lake achieves the TMDL by 2015.
The permit establishes specific, science-based phosphorus targets for four regions around the lake and implementation of measures necessary to help achieve the TMDL by 2015. It will also assess the progress of this effort through comprehensive monitoring.
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Will the permit affect the Lake Okeechobee discharges to tide?
No. The permit does not address the quantity of water discharged to the estuaries.
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How has the District been operating the structures prior to this permit?
The District has been operating under an administratively extended permit since 1983.
During this time, the State has undertaken a series of science programs to evaluate the lake and actions to accomplish long-term restoration, including:
- Establishing the Lake Okeechobee Surface Water Improvement and Management (SWIM) plan -- a multi-agency research, monitoring and management program for the lake.
- Adopting the Lake Okeechobee TMDL.
- Completing and updating the Lake Okeechobee Protection Plan as required by the Lake Okeechobee Protection Act.
These years of research, science and monitoring have provided the State with the information needed to incorporate specific water quality targets and restoration goals into the permit, which recognize that the long term solution is a comprehensive, watershed-based program designed to minimize phosphorus loads into Lake Okeechobee.
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What has the State done to restore and protect Lake Okeechobee?
Since 2001, the State has invested nearly $140 million to improve farming practices, construct wetlands and implement phosphorus reduction technologies to improve the health of America’s second largest freshwater lake. Conservation and nutrient management activities collectively cover 278,000 acres of farmland in the watershed, with an additional 634,000 acres of agricultural operations signed up to adopt best farming practices or a farm treatment project in the future.
In 2005, the State also initiated the Lake Okeechobee and Estuary Recovery Plan, dedicating $200 million to expand water storage areas, construct treatment marshes and expedite environmental management initiatives to enhance the ecological health of the lake and downstream coastal estuaries.
Together with the Lake Okeechobee Protection Plan and the multi-billion Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, the recovery plan is fast tracking construction projects during the next four years. Water managers are constructing the 2,000-acre Taylor Creek reservoir ahead of schedule and building an additional 2,400 acres of stormwater treatment area to capture and clean water flowing into the lake. Slated for completion by 2010, the construction projects will provide additional water storage, reduce harmful discharges to coastal estuaries and reduce the flow of phosphorus from flowing into the lake each year. The District is also evaluating opportunities for additional storage, including actively pursuing alternative storage sites on public and private lands in the Okeechobee basin.
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