Southwest Florida Begins To Hear The Forbidden Word - "Unsustainable" - Thanks To Drought

[hatrack]

EDIT

Since January 2006, Southwest Florida has recorded a 20-inch "deficit" in average rainfall. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, citing La Niña conditions, predicts continuing drought into summer 2008 -- at least. During a La Niña, Florida's November through March temperatures average 2-4 degrees warmer; rainfall is up to 60 percent less than normal.

Already, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has designated 58 of Florida's 67 counties as disaster areas. The drought has cost the state's agricultural industry $100 million a month. What it will mean to tourism and building, Florida's other two primary industries, remains uncertain. Alarmed residents are lobbying state legislators to retool the Growth Management Act to better preserve long-range water supplies.

On the local level, water is assuming a higher priority when councils and commissions deliberate building plans and other consumptive uses. In addition, this drought, this year, has fostered a subtle shift that could have a profound influence on future development as regional water authorities -- such as the Peace River/Manatee Regional Water Supply Authority -- assume a greater role in growth-management decisions.

The water authority produces between 18-20 million gallons a day of water for 250,000 customers, primarily in Charlotte and DeSoto counties, and North Port. Nearly all that water comes from the Peace River. Unfortunately, the river will soon be too low and too slow, to provide that water. The authority is prohibited from drawing water unless the river is flowing faster than 130 cubic feet per second. In August, the Southwest Florida Water Management District, or Swiftmud, issued an emergency order lowering that bar to 90 cfs. It extended the emergency in November.

EDIT

http://www.sun-herald.com/Newsstory.cfm?pubdate=123007&story=tp1ch5.htm&folder=NewsArchive2

[XemaSab]

1. Kick for teh swiftmud

:)

[msongs]

2. pray for hurricanes? nt

[HysteryDiagnosis]

3. Funny that.... when the lake O was dried up several years ago,

swiftmud brought in pumps from yours truly, MWI, rather large nasty electric ones as well as engine driven to draw water from the surrounding canals, (I believe this is illegal and all of that) so the cane farmers could continue to irrigate off the lake. Didn't matter to them that the water they were putting into the lake was about as nasty as it gets. GW campaigned with Jebby in the Lake O sugar cane regions, and sadly enough he did rather well in these areas if memory serves.




http://www.doi.gov/oepc/wetlands2/v2ch7.html

The loss of freshwater inflow also allows saltwater to intrude and contaminate drinking water. Moreover, as the peaty muck oxidizes, it releases organically bound nitrogen which combines with other elements to form nitrates. Nitrates contaminate drinking water as they seep into the aquifer or as agricultural drainwater is backpumped into Lake Okeechobee, a source of back-up drinking water for Miami. Because of water quality problems and eutrophication, backpumping from the Everglades Agricultural Area into the Lake was recently limited, and the nitrates and phosphorous from the drainwater now flow into the water conservation areas where they are causing similar problems.

Agricultural pesticides, fertilizers, and tilling practices worsen the water quality problem. Sugarcane, the predominant crop in the Everglades Agricultural Area, is chemically intensive. Dairy farms along the Kissimmee River have contaminated the soil and water with phosphorous and nitrogen.8 In 1987, in an effort to address the problem, the State initiated a program of buy-outs and regulation of the dairy farms in the Lake Okeechobee watershed.9 In south Dade County, tomato and vegetable farming operations start with heavy tilling to break up the deposits of sea shells and coral (limestone) covering the area, thus permitting cultivation. The hydroponic farming used in the broken limestone conditions requires greater use of fertilizer and pesticides. The Everglades National Park lies directly west of these fields and changes in the native plant community have been noted as a result of the increased levels of fertilizer and pesticides. The State has not effectively enforced water quality standards for pumped effluents on the agricultural industry.

The sugar industry receives major Federal subsidies in the form of price supports, import restrictions, and low interest loans. The price support for sugarcane for the period 1991-1995 is 18 cents per pound, about twice the world rate. The subsidy program is implemented through the combination of import quotas (which prevent competition from cheap foreign sugar)20 and low interest, nonrecourse loans from the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) to sugar processors who agree to purchase domestically produce sugarcane at or above the "floor price" established by Congress, thus passing on to growers the benefits of price protection. The processed sugar (known as raw cane sugar) serves as collateral for the loans. This program protects the processors who can sell the sugar for a profit if prices rise, or forfeit the sugar to the CCC in exchange for cancellation of their debt if prices fall. Import restrictions have kept the domestic price of raw cane sugar so high, however, that only in one year between 1981 and 1993 did any processors default on their loans.21 Between 1982 and 1990, the domestic price for raw cane sugar averaged $.217/lb., compared to a world price of $.098 (adjusted for delivery to New York). Import quotas for 1991/1992 were only a third as large as imports during the period 1975-1981, a period of unrestricted trade in sugar (Jurenas 1992).


>>In 1988, the U.S. Attorney's office in Miami filed suit on behalf of the FWS and the National Park Service against the Florida Department of Environmental Regulation and the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) for pumping water that exceeded nutrient water quality standards into the Everglades without a permit. These discharges cause vegetative changes, have impaired the ecological integrity of the Loxahatchee Wildlife Refuge, and are threatening Everglades National Park. In an effort to address the water quality problems in Florida, the State passed the Surface Water Improvement and Management Act (SWIM) of 1986 that called for Water Management Districts to develop plans to control pollutants. The Everglades SWIM plan was completed after settlement of the lawsuit, but is being challenged on legal grounds by agricultural interests. Thus, as of March, 1994, plans have not been implemented which require water treatment areas, and there has been no opportunity to assess the effectiveness of the proposed regulatory measures.<<

[madrchsod]

4. the main reason why we have lost our candy industry to mexico

and other countries is the price of sugar in this country.....