The goal or the mission of the South
Florida Water Management District is to handle the resources of the region.
The important elements of this are: the conservation and development of
water supply, the protection and improvement of water quality, the easing of
flood and drought, and the restoration and the maintenance of natural resources.
One
way to restore regional water patterns is to establish water protection areas
along the eastern border of Everglades. This
is land they need to acquire because it will help their plan.
These areas will control the loss of water through unnatural seepage,
help clean the water, provide buffer zones between urban (city) areas and the
natural system, and improve the region’s water supply.
Buffer zones are shield or safeguard zones.
Unnatural leakage occurs when dikes and other features are constructed
and create irregular filtration.
The
Water District, state, and federal agencies have spend approximately $119
million to buy or purchase 15, 919 acres of land along the eastern edge of the
Everglades. $31 million came from
the Farm Bill. These acres will
become part of marshlands, reservoirs, and aquifer recharge basins.
The basins will help meet future water supply needs for city areas,
agriculture, and the environment.
The
district’s area covers from
Kissimmee in central Florida, to Lake Okeechobee, and from coast to coast. They are also working across the peninsula of Fort Myers to
Fort Pierce and south to the Everglades and Florida Bay.
For
the fourth year in a row, the South Florida Water Management District has
reported an important decline in the amount of phosphorus off farms in the
Everglades Agricultural Area south of Lake Okeechobee.
The District is in charge of delivering clean water to the Everglades as
part as the general restoration.
The
South Florida Water Management District has concerns about a plan released by
the U.S Army Corps of Engineers about 1.5 years ago, effecting operations of
Central and Southern Florida Flood Control Project.
This plan attempts to reduce flooding of the nesting habitat of the
endangered Cape Sable Seaside Sparrow in western Everglades National Park.
Changing the planned schedule for certain water control structures near
Tamiami Trail in Miami-Dade County, would raise water levels in the conservation
north of Everglades National Park. The
Corp’s plan may discuss the District’s ability to provide flood protection
to city or urban areas and farmlands in south Miami Dade County.