FCE-LTER All Scientist Meeting The State of Everglades Restoration Fred H. Sklar 14 March 2016 Deering Estate
Restoration Update Outline 1. Reservoirs, STAs & FEBs 2. Broward WPA s 3. DPM 4. MFL & Seagrass 5. Emergency Order & ModWaters CERP Project
C-44 C-43 Northern Estuaries
C-44 Reservoir/STA Reduce C-44 Basin runoff peaks to the St. Lucie Estuary Reduce nutrient loads from C-44 Basin runoff to the St. Lucie Estuary 3,400 acre reservoir water depth of 15 feet - 50,600 acre-feet of storage 6,300 acre STA with emergent vegetation 1,100 cubic feet per second (cfs) capacity - Pump station located four miles north of the C-44 Canal Project currently under construction - Both SFWMD and USACE are actively constructing components Beth Kacvinsky - Lead Project Manager Office of Everglades Policy and Coordination 4
C-44 RSTA Construction Status Currently Under Construction by SFWMD Stormwater Treatment Area (Blue Goose Construction, Inc.) - $100,792,387 - October 2014 - August 2017 5
C-44 RSTA Construction Status Currently Under Construction by SFWMD Reservoir Pump Station (Harry Pepper & Associates, Inc.) - $40,289,146 - Apr. 2015 - Sept. 2018 6
Pump Station Construction 7
C-43 Reservoir 170,000 acre-feet of storage Reduces harmful freshwater discharges to the Caloosahatchee Estuary Estimated Cost: $619 M Status: Start soon; End 2018 Peter Doering, Ph.D. Section Administrator Coastal Ecosystems, Water Resources Division South Florida Water Management District 8
L-8 STA-1W Expansion A-1 FEB Restoration Strategies
State of Florida Restoration Strategies Six water treatment and storage facilities to improve water quality More Clean Water available to WCAs A-1 FEB Complete 2015 L-8 FEB Complete 2016 STA 1W Expand 2018
It is a unique geological formation. Unique engineering It stores 45,000 acre-ft of water Three FEB s will be built for a total of 105,000 acre-ft. L-8 FEB 11
Water Preserve Areas
Broward Water Preserve Areas Components and Approximate Construction Sequence Estimated Cost: $896 million 1. C-11 Northern Mitigation Area (2016-2018) 2. C-11 Impoundment (2018-2020) 3. WCA 3A/3B Seepage Management Area (2019-?) 4. C-9 Impoundment (2020-?)
DPM Decomp Physical Model
WCA-3A DPM Flow-way WCA-3B
Benefits of Sustained Discharges Slough Velocities Increase 300 300 250S152 discharg e (cfs) discharge (cfs) 200 RS1 Slough Velocity 150 100 2 cm s -1 discharge (cfs) 250 200 150 100 Data from 50Jud Harvey, 50 Jay Choi and Mark Dickman, USGS
KEY FINDINGS (DPM) Floc was more erodible after sustained high flow (red=post-flow; black=pre-flow) Floc Height (cm) 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 2 weeks 6 weeks 10 weeks The amount of slough floc was decreased under sustained flow 0 5 10 15 20 Distance East (m) Data from Saunders, Newman and Manna)
Stopping flow appeared to raise TP concentrations TP g/l Turbidity (NTU) 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 TP Depth Flow Turbidity 0.75 0.70 0.65 0.60 0.55 Water depth (m) 10 8 6 4 2 Velocity (cm/s) 2 0.50 01/26 01/27 01/28 01/29 01/30 01/31 02/01 02/02 Date 0 Data from Newman, Cline, Tate-Boldt and Hansen
Large Fish Increase in Backfilled Areas Partial & Complete Fill areas attained similar CPUE to canal edges 40 CPUE (5-min 30 transect) 20 Canal edge Backfill treatments have created more high-quality fish habitat by increasing vegetated areas similar to canal edges 10 0 CPUE 20 (5-min transect) 15 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 25 10 Canal center Data from J.Trexler (FIU) 5 0 2013 2014 2015 2016
MFL & Seagrass Die-off TR Die-off
2012-2015 Conditions - Florida Bay Taylor River Salinity & MFL Flow >30 psu MFL rule threshold TR Salinity gauge Creek flow gauge
2012-2015 Conditions - Florida Bay Taylor River Salinity & MFL Flow Average Lowest value ever recorded since the 5 creek flow gauges were installed in 1996. August 2015 77,602 acre-feet 105,000 acre-feet MFL rule threshold TR Salinity gauge Creek flow gauge
Florida Bay Salinity Map > 50 psu Salinity highs at ENP platforms: 72 psu (Garfield Bight, 7/21) 66 psu (Buoy Key, 7/15) 57 psu (Terrapin Bay, 7/12) 57 psu (Johnson Key, 7/12) 54 psu (Whipray Basin, 7/28) Late July 2015 Difference from 2006 2014 Average (Jun Aug) Johnson Garfield Buoy Whipray 24
Central Florida Bay Yellow Fog Standing Dead Seagrass Live Seagrass Seagrass bed with cloudy yellow color Areas of yellow cloudy water within SAV beds with very low dissolved oxygen and high sulfur Low sport fish numbers (cannot be wholly attributed to recent hypersalinity) Not present in surface waters 25
TURTLEGRASS DIE-OFF LOCATIONS 1987-1990 vs. 2015 EVENT Madeira Bay Blackwater Sound Rankin Lake Eagle Key Basin Johnson Key Basin Whipray Basin Calusa Key Basin Crane Key Basin 1987 Rabbit Key Basin Twin Key Basin 2015 From: P. Hall 2015, FWRI
Emergency Order & ModWaters
Mar 2016: No recorded rainfall as of 03/08/2016 2014 WET SEASON: May 26 th Oct 4 th Near average (108%) 2014-15 DRY SEASON: May was 51% below average Dry Season 86% of average 2015 WET SEASON: Driest May-July since 2004 Ended below average 2015-16 DRY SEASON: Nov 2015-Jan 2016 wettest since 1932 Jan 2016 wettest since 1932 Dry Season projected to be well above average
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WCA-3A Tree Island Inundations as of 3/6/16 Gauge 63, WCA-3A, Gauge 64, WCA-3A, Gauge 65, WCA-3A, 2 2.5 86 days 32 days 2.5 96 days Ground: 9.08 NGVD29 Ground:8.49 NGVD29 Ground: 7.3 NGVD29
Flow Baby, Flow! L-29 Constraint 7.5 to 8.5 ft NGVD S12s S333 NESRS S334 S335A&B S335 S336 S356 S338 G211 S25B WCA-3A stages have been extremely high. District/USACE Temporary Emergency Deviation to lower stages in WCA-3A Raise L-29 stage limit from 7.5 to 8.5 feet Allow higher flows through S-333 into L-29 Increase flows to NESRS Use S-334 to moderate L-29 Increased use of S-26 and S-25B forward pumps Send WCA-3A releases through the L-30 canal (S-337, S-335) Use the C-4 Detention Facility to store water Temporary pumps at S-355A&B and S-357 Future use of S-356 once stages at 8.5 square mile area stabilize S-333 ~ 1,300 cfs 31
FCE-LTER All Scientist Meeting The State of Everglades Restoration Whew!