August 10, 2007
Water managers' decision rankles farmers
By Joel Moroney
http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070810/NEWS0105/708100355/1007
Four new appointments by Gov. Charlie Crist to the South Florida Water Management District's governing board moved to kill an attempt to pump farm water back into drought-starved Lake Okeechobee in preparation for the upcoming dry season.
The vote was hailed as a victory by environmentalists and Lee County officials concerned about the health of the Caloosahatchee River, which flows lake water to the coast. Agricultural interests warned of possible dire consequences if water restrictions remain in place during this winter's dry growing season.
"We're the major supplier of fruit and vegetables for the entire country during that time of year because we are the only state that can stay in crops in the dead of winter," said Terence McElroy, spokesman for state Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Charles Bronson. Bronson's office estimates the drought's cost to farmers at $100 million and counting. "It's also going to mean higher food prices for consumers."
At 9.48 feet the lake is about 4 feet below normal, and temporary pumps are drawing water into canals used for drinking and farming.
While Bronson's office has not specifically condoned backpumping, McElroy said raising water levels is critical.
"We absolutely have to have another 2 or 3 feet of water in Lake Okeechobee — without it, agriculture stands to suffer very serious consequences," he said.
The board voted unanimously to direct staff to prepare for next month's meeting a report on all other options for raising water in the lake. But it drew the line on pumping water back into the lake from the vast agricultural area to the south, which was last used during the 2001 drought and added about six inches of water.
"(Just) because it was done in the past, that was then and this is now," said Charles Dauray, Lee County's new member. "For me to vote for this would be indefensible."
Kurt Harclerode, a 20-year district employee before becoming operations manager of Lee County Division of Natural Resources last year, praised Dauray's leadership and called it a "defining moment" in the history of South Florida water management.
"This is new ground," Harclerode said. "This was a full-court press by agricultural interests and the board, which doesn't usually go against those interests, did a major thing."
Southwest Florida's other representative, Malcolm S. "Bubba" Wade Jr., abstained from voting because of his position as vice president of U.S. Sugar, which pushed for the measure and has 180,000 acres of farmland in the area. Wade said the board accomplished nothing after two days and about 10 hours of hearings.
"From an agriculture perspective this is a feel-good motion to direct staff to do what they've always done," said Wade, who dismissed arguments backpumping might only add an inch or 2 of lake water through the rest of rainy season. "It helps the farmers survive for that many more days — doesn't matter if it's 2 inches."
Lee County Commissioner Ray Judah praised the decision as a signal water managers are finally putting the environment ahead of the interests of the state's powerful farming industry.
"Thank God for Charlie Crist and his new appointments because now we are finally taking the appropriate steps in the right direction to better manage not only Lake Okeechobee but the estuaries downstream," Judah said.
A fifth member appointed by Crist voted in favor of the emergency water-storage measure but said a better alternative had to be found.
But despite Thursday's vote, board Chairman Eric Buermann said the district will continue to challenge a court ruling earlier this year requiring it to seek federal permits before backpumping.
"This appeal is not about a desire to backpump — it's about a state's right to manage its resources on behalf of its citizens," Buermann said of the ongoing lawsuit brought by environmentalists. He said, had the vote been in favor of emergency water-supply backpumping, it might have been a "moot point" with rainy season over by the time court permission and federal permits were acquired.
Those who voted in favor Thursday said they were trying to balance the environment with the threat posed by the drought to farmers and communities around the lake that rely on it for drinking.
"We have always sought a compromise,"