The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has released its draft plan for restoration of the Everglades. This plan represents the first comprehensive proposal for Everglades restoration ever formulated. On a national and international scale, the restoration plan is the greatest attempt at ecosystem restoration ever undertaken. Additionally, fragile coral reefs that are downstream of the Everglades have suffered dramatic decline in part from the agricultural runoff that has been generated from this area. See related story The Keys Are In Our Hands and check out the 3500-page plan on the web at www.restudy.org. Help us generate support for a good plan!
Please write to your Congressman and also contact:
Col. Joe Miller, Jacksonville District Engineer, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, P.O. Box 4970, Jax. Fl. 32232
Sam Poole, Director, South Florida Water Management District, 3301 Gun Club Road, West Palm Beach, Fl. 33406
Congressman Peter Deutsch, U.S. House of Representatives, 204 Cannon House Office Bldg, Wash., DC 205157931
Senator Bob Graham, U.S. Senate, 524 Hart Senate Office Bldg. Wash., DC 20510
Senator Connie Mack, U.S. Senate, 517 Hart Senate Office Bldg. Wash. DC 20510
Ask them to clean up the Everglades so that agricultural runoff containing nutrients—specifically nitrogen as well as phosphorus, pesticides and mercury do not discharge into Florida Bay and the downstream coral reefs of the Florida Keys. Why spend billions to clean it up after the fact???
Make these four points in your letter:
* Reduce agricultural pollution from fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides and top soil loss at the source.
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. In recent years, high tissue mercury concentrations in wading birds, fish and top predators such as the Florida panther in southern Florida and the Water Conservation Areas of the Everglades points to widespread mercury contamination with possible toxic effects that can be transferred up food chains. The increased water flows out of the Everglades that were intended to reverse the effects of the trend of deteriorating water quality are, unfortunately, making things worse. Massive algal blooms and severe turbidity have expanded from Central and Western Florida Bay, the "Dead Zone" as a result of increased flows of water and nitrogen through Taylor Slough and Shark River Slough. During the same period, a host of new coral diseases have spread at Keys coral reefs. Purple sea fans and possibly other sea life is being attacked by a land-based fungus found only in top soil , the aspergillus fungus.
* Identify strategies for reducing both phosphorus and nitrogen loading to waters of Florida Bay and the Florida Keys in recognition of the fact that the nutrient thresholds for coral reefs are lower than previously acknowledged.
Dr. Brian Lapointe (RR Pres./ Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution) and Dr. Peter Bell (Un. Queensland, Aust) have critically reviewed case studies from around the world and have established that biologically diverse coral reef ecosystems cannot tolerate nutrient levels that exceed 1uM dissolved inorganic nitrogen and 0.1 uM soluble reactive phosphorus. The increasing discharges of agricultural runoff and inadequately-treated sewage containing elevated nitrates and phosphates into Florida Bay and the Florida Keys is a principle contributor to the demise of Florida's coral reefs. The coral reefs are suffocating from massive algal blooms. Coral coverage, abundance, and healthprior to Hurricane Georges' damage, had all declined. Despite years as a no-take zone for fisheries at Looe Key, this reef has experienced a 44% loss of coral cover between 1984 and 1991 (James PorterUn.Ga.). The Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary is spending millions of dollars a year on studies but we must do more.
* Protect public health and the coral reefs by dedicating funding to the improvement of sewage infrastructure in the Florida Keys.
Numerous studies have proven that existing septic systems, cesspits and package plants with injection wells permit wastewater leachate to enter nearshore waters in a matter of hours once discharged into the porous limestone substrata of the Keys. State standards are woefully inadequate. Public beaches and harbors in the Keys that have been tested contain high fecal coliform counts. How long before we must close these beaches? Nearshore waters have already reached eutrophic levels and regional blooms of toxic red tides were experienced in 1994-95. Recent studies indicate that coral bleaching caused by high levels of the vibrio bacteria in the water column. Last year, corals in the Lower Florida Keys experienced extended and widespread bleaching indicating that more than just high sea temperatures at work. This was followed by heavy rains and a wet winter that dramatically decreased visibility throughout the winter months, further continuing the stress on the corals. The massive damage from Hurricane Georges has further compromised the health of the reef.
* Insure that any water stored underground in aquifer recharge areas is clean enough that it does not jeopardize underground sources of drinking water and that the water supply does not become a justification for more urban sprawl.
Over 300 wells will be installed to store water for South Florida. This experimental method is unproven but can be a great boom to fresh water needs into the future. However, we are concerned that the quality of the water to be stored is clean enough to be useful for more than just agricultural use. We are also concerned that the additional availability of water not be utilized to justify a conversion of agricultural lands into urban sprawl westward into the Everglades.
It's time to act. The technology exists to remove/reduce nutrient loading from sewage and agricultural runoff. Let's dedicate funding to this purpose now, before it's too late for the Everglades and Florida's coral reefs.