Posted On: Thu, Jun. 21, 2007
http://www.miamiherald.com/569/story/146382.html
Growth management must play a stronger role in Everglades restoration, especially in the rapidly growing counties north of Lake Okeechobee, state officials said Wednesday.
Florida's increased development means more pollutants like lawn fertilizer, which creates runoff full of phosphorous and nitrogen that pumps into the Everglades, said Carol Wehle, executive director of the South Florida Water Management District.
Those nutrients will cause plants like cattails, that would not normally grow, to take over the area, she warned.
Rising land costs also are impacting the state's ability to buy privately owned land needed for Everglades restoration projects.
''Some of those sites if we don't move now could be targeted for development,'' Wehle said.
Her agency met with the Department of Community Affairs and the Department of Environmental Protection in Tallahassee to discuss growth management plans needed to ensure Everglades protection, particularly the water quality and storage levels.
One likely plan will be stricter rules for granting permits to developers, Wehle said. In rapidly growing Osceola County, more pollutants are coming into the Kissimmee River Valley, the headwater of Lake Okeechobee.
''If not handled properly, it could generate a lot of runoff that could adversely effect the quality of water in the Everglades,'' Community Affairs Secretary Tom Pelham said.
There's also a need for more adequate water storage areas, the agencies said.
''If we have the right growth management protection in place, we could actually store more water north of the lake, do a better job of having that water treated before it comes to Lake Okeechobee,'' Wehle said.