The Miami Herald

Posted on, Jan. 29, 2006

The end of South Florida's free ride on Everglades water

OUR OPINION:
STATE'S TOUGH NEW LAWS SET RIGHT PRIORITY

Miami-Dade County commissioners and managers got a stern message from the state and the South Florida Water Management District last week: The days of business as usual are over. The message was both timely and necessary.

Business as usual means siphoning more and more water from the Everglades to slake the thirst of a growing population. The message wasn't just for Miami-Dade. It applies to Broward, Monroe and Palm Beach counties, too. To their everlasting credit, Gov Jeb Bush and the Legislature last year turned off the one-way spigot with two bills that strengthen the state's water-supply policy.

The bills link water supplies with permits for new development and protect the state and federal governments' $8 billion investment in Everglades restoration by ensuring that growth will not drain the Everglades. From now on, counties and cities must find alternative sources of drinking water to support growth.

Water linked to growth

Florida Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Colleen Castille and SFWMD Executive Director Carol Ann Wehle came to Miami-Dade last week to deliver the message. They were alarmed by the County Commission's blithe transmittal in December of eight amendments to the county's comprehensive-development plan that took no accounting of the new law linking water supplies to growth.

''We have the perfect storm brewing here,'' Ms. Castille said. 'There is the county's request for a new consumptive-use water permit that would allow it to use an additional 100 million gallons a day beyond current consumption. There are the comp-plan amendments that would increase development. And there is the 2005 water-supply bill that links local governments' comprehensive land-use plans and the water management districts' water-supply plans. Miami-Dade is on the precipice.''

Miami-Dade must come up with new water sources to supplement the 346 million gallons a day that it now takes out of the Biscayne Aquifer, which is replenished by rainfall and the Everglades. The surest way to find new water is to recycle. Yet Miami-Dade reuses a measely 5 percent of the water it takes out of the aquifer. The other 95 percent flows into Biscayne Bay or is pumped into deep-injection wells. What a waste.

Broward County is no better. It also recaptures only 5 percent. Palm Beach is in the midst of developing reuse facilities. It recaptures 30 percent. Monroe reuses 6 percent but has launched projects to capture more. Contrast these dismal performances with other counties in the district: five reuse 100 percent of their water, while most others average between 70-80 percent reuse. As the region's two largest counties, Broward's and Miami-Dade's recycling rates are a disgrace.

The other reason Ms. Castille and Ms. Wehle visited local officials was out of sheer exasperation. For two years, the SFWMD has been negotiating with the Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Department about the county's permit request. For some unfathomable reason, county officials have resisted finding alternative water sources, apparently believing that if they held out the district would relent and approve use of more Everglades water. Ms. Castille summed up the state and district's position: "We're not taking any more water out of the Everglades. Period.''

The news hit hard: Water and Sewer Department Director Bill Brandt resigned Friday. County Manager George Burgess promised to work with the DEP and the SFWMD to meet state requirements on developing alternative water supplies.

Robert Renfrow, long-time chief of the Department of Environmental Resources, was picked to head WASD. Mr. Renfrow has a big task. Miami-Dade water and sewer rates are the lowest in Florida, and the commission is loath to raise them. But the county will have to find money for new water sources. The SFWMD and DEP offer grants and low-interest loans for that purpose, and the county should take advantage of this assistance.

There are other ways to find more water. The county can tap the brackish Florida aquifer and treat its water with reverse osmosis; build a desalination plant; recharge canals with treated sewage water; and improve underground storage capacity. None of this is cheap or easy. But if South Florida counties want to grow and thrive they must stop using the Everglades as an unlimited source of cheap water.