The State of

Everglades Restoration

Fred H. Sklar

14 March 2016

Deering Estate

FCE-LTER

All Scientist Meeting

CERP Project

Outline

1. Reservoirs, STAs & FEBs

2. Broward WPA’s

3. DPM

4. MFL & Seagrass

5. Emergency Order &

ModWaters

Restoration Update

Northern Estuaries

C-44

C-43

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

4

Beth Kacvinsky - Lead Project Manager

Office of Everglades Policy and Coordination

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

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

20188

Peter Doering, Ph.D.

Section Administrator

Coastal Ecosystems, Water Resources Division

South Florida Water Management District

Restoration

Strategies

L-8

A-1 FEB

STA-1W

Expansion

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

11

• 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

Water Preserve

Areas

Broward Water Preserve Areas Components

and Approximate Construction Sequence

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-?)

Estimated Cost: $896 million

Decomp

Physical

ModelDPM

WCA-3B

WCA-3A

DPM

Flow-way

Benefits of Sustained Discharges – Slough

Velocities Increase

11/1/14 to 2/1/15

10/1/14 11/1/14 12/1/14 1/1/15 2/1/15

dis

ch

arge

(cfs)

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

2 cm

s-1

S152

discharg

e (cfs)

11/1/14 to 2/1/15

10/1/14 11/1/14 12/1/14 1/1/15 2/1/15

dis

cha

rge (cfs)

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

Data from Jud Harvey, Jay Choi and Mark Dickman, USGS

RS1 Slough

Velocity

KEY FINDINGS (DPM)

Distance East (m)

0 5 10 15 20

Flo

c H

eig

ht (c

m)

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

2 weeks6 weeks10 weeks

Data from Saunders, Newman and Manna)

The amount of slough

floc was decreased

under sustained flow

Floc was more erodible after

sustained high flow

(red=post-flow; black=pre-flow)

Stopping flow appeared to raise TP concentrations

Data from Newman, Cline, Tate-Boldt and Hansen

Date

01/26 01/27 01/28 01/29 01/30 01/31 02/01 02/02

TP

g

/LT

urb

idit

y (

NT

U)

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

Wate

r d

ep

th (

m)

0.50

0.55

0.60

0.65

0.70

0.75

Velo

cit

y (

cm

/s)

0

2

4

6

8

10TPDepth

Flow

Turbidity

Large Fish Increase in Backfilled Areas

Canal

edge

Partial & Complete Fill

areas attained similar

CPUE to canal edges

Backfill treatments have

created more high-quality

fish habitat by increasing

vegetated areas similar to

canal edges

Data from J.Trexler (FIU)

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

CPUE

(5-min

transect)

0

10

20

30

40

Canal

center

2013 2014 2015 2016

CPUE

(5-min

transect)

0

5

10

15

20

25

MFL & Seagrass

Die-off

TR

Die-off

Salinity gauge

Creek flow gauge

TR

2012-2015 Conditions - Florida Bay

Taylor River Salinity & MFL Flow

>30 psu MFL rule threshold

Salinity gauge

Creek flow gauge

TR

2012-2015 Conditions - Florida Bay

Taylor River Salinity & MFL Flow

105,000 acre-feet MFL rule threshold

Lowest value ever recorded since the 5 creek

flow gauges were installed in 1996.

August 2015 – 77,602 acre-feet

Average

Florida Bay Salinity Map

Late July 2015

Difference from

2006 – 2014 Average

(Jun – Aug)

> 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)

24

Johnson

Buoy

Whipray

Garfield

25Not present in surface waters

Central Florida Bay

“Yellow Fog”

Areas of yellow cloudy water withinSAV beds with very low dissolved oxygen and high sulfur

Low sport fish numbers (cannot be wholly attributed to recent hypersalinity)

Standing

Dead

Seagrass

Live Seagrass

Seagrass bed with

cloudy yellow color

BlackwaterSound

Calusa Key Basin

Eagle Key Basin

Twin Key BasinRabbit Key Basin

Johnson Key Basin

Crane Key Basin

Whipray Basin

Rankin Lake

Madeira Bay

TURTLEGRASS DIE-OFF LOCATIONS1987-1990 vs. 2015 EVENT

1987

From: P. Hall 2015, FWRI

2015

Emergency

Order &

ModWaters

2015 WET SEASON:• Driest May-July since 2004

• Ended below average

2014 WET SEASON:• May 26th – Oct 4th

• Near average (108%)

2014-15 DRY SEASON: • May was 51% below

average

• Dry Season 86% of

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

Ma

r 2

01

6:

No

re

co

rde

d r

ain

fall

as

of

03

/08

/201

6

29

Ground: 9.08’ NGVD29

2’

Gauge 63, WCA-3A,

2.5’

2.5’

WCA-3A Tree Island Inundations as

of 3/6/16

Ground:8.49’ NGVD29 Ground: 7.3’ NGVD29

Gauge 64, WCA-3A, Gauge 65, WCA-3A,

96 days

32

days

86 days

31

Flow Baby, Flow!

• 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

S335S336

S25BS12s S333 S334

NESRSG211

S356

L-29 Constraint

7.5 to 8.5 ft

NGVD

S338S335A&B

S-333 ~ 1,300 cfs

The State of

Everglades Restoration

Whew!

FCE-LTER

All Scientist Meeting