August 2024

Securing Florida's Water Supplies

We’ve written about efforts to restore the Everglades in previous editions of the H₂O Zone, pointing out the vital role this area of outstanding natural beauty plays in maintaining a clean supply of water for the use of Floridians.

This particular story focuses on one aspect of the restoration which places the state’s water supply front and center. It looks at the construction of the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) reservoir, a body of water the size of Manhattan Island which will be located south of Lake Okeechobee. 

As well as creating a secure long term supply of clean drinking water for Florida, the reservoir will play a part in reducing the kind of algae-inducing discharges which, in the past, have shut down beaches and killed huge numbers of fish.

The numbers are fairly mind boggling – the reservoir will cover 10,100 acres, will have an additional 6,500 acre stormwater treatment area and, when full, will store 78 billion gallons of water. The pressure on the water supply across Florida has been driven by rapid population growth, and between now and 2040 that population is expected to increase by another 4.8 million people. The ‘jewel in the crown’ of the Everglades Restoration Project is an ambitious response to pressures like this.

Can There Be Such A Thing As Good Flooding? Absolutely!

Think about produce grown in Florida and your mind probably goes to citrus trees and sugar cane. The fact that some parts of the Everglades are prone to flooding, however, means that it is one area which is perfect for the cultivation of another crop – rice. 

Growing rice in the Everglades Agricultural Area achieves the twin benefit of cultivating 25,000 acres of land each summer at the same time as protecting the area to the south of Lake Okeechobee from subsidence. 

During the last century this area has lost as much as 6ft of nutrient rich soil through subsidence, a process which is slowed if the area is flooded during the rainy season and the fields used to grow rice. When the water subsides, the rice can be harvested. 

Even better news in terms of sustainability is the fact that rice can be grown in this part of the Everglades without the need to use starter nitrogen, phosphorus or potassium fertilization – the soil itself is organic and rich in nutrients. 

Over the past 15 years rice crops have been planted by, amongst others, researchers and experts in soil sustainability from the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, and each year now sees more than 10 varieties of rice harvested.

Sustainable Construction A Shrewd Business Move

All too often, stories that focus on the environment tend to throw up a binary “either/or” choice – and in the case of property development, the choice would be to protect the natural world or develop more places for people to live.

Increasingly, though, developers are realizing that sustainable development is not only an ethical choice, it can be a shrewd business move as more and more property purchases are influenced by the sustainability credentials of their chosen living location.

One such example is North Village, a luxury residential community being constructed within a 47-acre nature preserve on the island of Vero Beach along Florida’s Treasure Coast. The aim is for residences to achieve Passive House certification, in recognition of energy efficiency and year-round comfort achieved through the likes of continuous insulation, high-performance windows and balanced heat and moisture recovery ventilation. 

Landscaping options will be locally sourced, nature-based and toxic-free, and experts will be drafted in to ensure that the landscaping choices help to boost the avian population. With 60% of the properties already sold prior to any building work, it would seem that combining high-end housing with eco-responsibility could be the wave of the future. 

Harvesting The Future - Keeping Construction Local

We’ve already mentioned the fact that the population of Florida is growing at a rapid rate. As proud Floridians we’re always happy to see more people realizing what a great place this is to live, but there’s no getting away from the pressure that a growing population is likely to put on the environment of the Sunshine State. 

The good news is that the clever people at the University of Florida School of Forest, Fisheries & Geomatics Sciences (SFFGS) are working on ways to construct the buildings Florida needs in the most sustainable manner possible. 

The work in question takes the form of a temporary 400-square-foot timber pavilion near the school's Reitz Union. The pavilion – official name the MASS Haptic project – will be in place for two to three years. During this time it will be used to educate and to promote the use of renewable materials locally grown and sourced - a practice with huge potential to minimize the carbon footprint of future construction projects. One example of the approach taken in the construction of the pavilion is the fact that the columns holding the roof up will be constructed from 28 pine logs harvested just 7 miles away in the University’s Cary Forest.

Research Dive Reveals Hope for Coral Reef, Palm Beach County

This month saw the start of the annual coral research season, a period when the oceans around the coast of Florida are at their hottest, making it the ideal time for gathering data on the coral which makes up the third largest barrier reef in the world. 

In recent years, spikes in the temperature of the sea – driven by climate change – have meant that this natural underwater wonder has been in danger of losing 50% of its coral species.

This particular story, looking at a research dive in Palm Beach County, was thankfully very positive. That’s because the water temperature along this stretch of the coast tends to stay significantly lower than the triple digit spikes seen further south 12 months ago. As a result, the coral here was diverse in nature, with the presence of wildlife such as sharks and turtles indicating a healthy eco-system all round. 

From now until the end of October, dives of this kind will happen weekly, gathering evidence which could play a part in helping to protect the rest of the Florida coral reef.

Community and Corporate Champions Of Reuse And Recycle Ethos

Here at the H₂O Zone we’re always happy to see commitment to sustainability rewarded. The negative effects of a changing climate will only be tackled if we all play our part – from concerned individuals all the way up to large scale businesses. 

Recycle Florida Today is an organization which seeks to promote and reward outstanding programs in recycling and environmental sustainability across the state.

This month saw RFT give out their 2024 Environmental Sustainability Awards for Outstanding Public and Private programs. The bodies honored in this manner are those felt to have displayed ‘an increased awareness of the importance of sustainability and the ability to motivate others to maximize recycling, composting, waste reduction and sustainability efforts.’ 

The Outstanding Public Program of the Year and Overall Outstanding Program of the Year award were given to Collier County, Florida, in recognition of a multi-faceted awareness campaign which helped them to become the second ranked county in Florida for recycling. 

The Outstanding Private Program of the Year award was given to Coca-Cola Beverages Florida LLC (Coke Florida), in recognition of a sustainability program which sees 100% of the waste produced diverted away from landfills and toward reuse and recycling.

Read All About It!

Here's a reminder from us of the wealth of information available via the various Water Management District websites. At State level, water resources are administered by the Department of Environmental Protection, the department also exercises general supervisory authority over the state’s five Water Management Districts (WMDs). 

WMDs take responsibility for all matters concerning water supply, water quality, flood protection and floodplain management and evaluating and protecting natural systems through the implementation of the Minimum Flows and Levels program and through reservations of water. 

Head over to our Resources page for quick links to the South-West Florida, St. Johns River, and South Florida WMD websites. There's information from Permitting Rules to District Water Supply and Management Planning and everything in between. We recommend subscribing to the newsletter for your own WMD, as they’re not only a source of stories of real interest to citizens and businesses - they also provide up to date information on perennial matters of concern like water conservation, water shortage orders, and rules around lawn watering, for example, that are subject to constant review and change.