New water use restrictions are in place in south Florida. Measures adopted Thursday are aimed at cutting the region's water consumption by 15 percent, and more in some areas.

They come after months of below-normal rainfall. In Southwest Florida growers who pump water from the Caloosahatchee River need to cut consumption by 30 percent. Ron Hamel of the Gulf Citrus Growers Association says the restrictions are problematic.

“the growers are going to have to decide what areas of their groves are going to get watered and areas might not get the same level of water they really need. It’s certainly going to impact the fruit set for the year and it could affect the size of the fruit depending on how long the drought is”

Citrus growers in Southwest Florida pump about a third of their irrigation water from the Caloosahatchee. Residential use by about five and half million people in Broward, Miami-Dade, Monroe and Palm Beach counties is under new restrictions. Golf courses, nurseries and utilities are also being asked to make cutbacks.

The Taylor Creek Nutrient Recovery Facility opens today – just outside the city of Okeechobee. As Valerie Alker reports it’s a new approach to removing nutrients from water flowing into Lake Okeechobee.

It works like this. Water from Taylor Creek will be diverted to a large pool with a flourishing population of algae which in theory eat and therefore remove the nutrients nitrogen and phosphate. Taylor Creek is a major tributary of Lake Okeechobee and has a history a nutrient problems. Fifteen million gallons of water a day will be treated. South Florida Water District Water Shed Manager Susan Gray says the nutrient recovery facility may provide an alternative to large filtration marshes.

“We know it is a smaller footprint and has more intensive management operations but once you balance out the size of the facility and the management versus a passive system which is very large, is it still competitive. The original experimental study looked very good which is why we’re interested in seeing how it performs on a larger scale.”

Project managers estimate their “Algal Turf Scubber” will remove two metric tons of phosphorous a year from Taylor Creek. Funding comes the Water Management District and the Florida Department of Agriculture. It’s build on land owned by the water district.

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South Florida Water Managers unveil a new system for removing nutrients from water today. The Taylor Creek Algal Turf Scrubber Nutrient Recovery facility is on land owned by the water management district just north of Lake Okeechobee. Taylor Creek is a major tributary. The District’s Susan Gray says the facility diverts the water from the creek and uses naturally occurring algea to remove the nutrients.

“It’s taking advantage of the natural nutrient uptake you can get from algae that grow on a fairly flat surface. The whole idea being that algae are very efficient at taking out nutrients from the water – it can take up the material and then they’re harvested and the material can then be used in compost or potentially other uses.”

Gray says the “Turf Scrubber” technology takes up much less land than filtration marshes. She says its effectiveness will be evaluated based on nutrient measurements of Taylor Creek’s water before and after the algae treatment. If it works as well as predicted, the technology could adapted for use throughout the water district.

The City of North Port is poised to start fining residents who illegally water their lawns.

Most of North Port’s water comes from the Peace River. Dry conditions have reduced the river’s average flow by two thirds. The largest residential use of water is for lawn irrigation. So North Port Public Utilities officials are enforcing water use restrictions – with warnings and fines. Cindy Mic is North Port’s utility director.

“the first time will be a warning – giving everybody a chance with the literature and an explanation of why its important to conserve and abide by the water restrictions and the second time would be a hundred dollars fine and the third offense can range between 200 and five hundred dollars…”

Resident in North Port, Venice and unincorporated areas Sarasota county can water their lawns once a week - before 10:00 AM and after 4 PM.

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Low water levels in the Peace River are leading officials to step-up enforcement of water use restrictions in the City of North Port. North Port Utility Director Cindy Mic says first time offenders will get warnings and some education about the need to conserve water during Florida’s dry season.

“a lot of times we’ll just knock on their door and explain the watering restrictions and give them the opportunity to choose the right day to water correctly. the main push for this is education. we want to educate the public on the importance of water conservation and conserving water for environmental reasons, and their pocketbooks”

Residents caught watering after they’ve received a warning will be fined. Fines start at 100 dollars and increase with subsequent violations. Lawn irrigation is limited to once a week in Sarasota County, except in communities using reclaimed water. The rules do apply to residents who irrigate with their own well water.

Water managers are preparing to install emergency pumps on the south end of Lake Okeechobee in case the lake’s water level gets too low.

2006 is turning out to be one of the driest years on record - and once the amount of water in Lake Okeechobee drops below a certain level, gravity will no longer direct its flow through existing structures.

In response, the South Florida Water Management District has purchased 14 massive, portable electric pumps in case it needs to move water out of the lake to meet demand from the area to the south.

Deputy Director with the watershed management department at the District – Susan Gray – says they haven’t started installing the pumps just yet.

“What we’ll do now is test the pumps and make sure they’re wired and have supporting infrastructure necessary to put the pumps in place. But because they can actually interfere with discharges under higher stages we wouldn’t actually install them until the lake was at 10 and a half.”

Gray says rainfall has been well below average in past few months… the worst drought the area’s seen the since the winter of 2000 and 2001.

The pump installation is temporary. They will be removed for use elsewhere once water levels in the lake rise.

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The South Florida Water Management District has purchased 14 massive electric pumps – in case water levels in Lake Okeechobee get too low.

Water is pumped out of the lake to the south to meet demand from both homes and agriculture. But once it drops below a certain level – gravity no longer ‘works with’ water managers. Deputy Director of the District’s Watershed Management Department Susan Grey – says it’s been so dry lately that point is fast approaching.

“Lake Okeechobee level right now is 12.07 which is very unusual for this time of year. And it’s actually almost as dry in terms of lake stage as it was in 2001 – which was like a 1 in 100 year event. So it’s quite dry…we’re looking at potentially the second driest year ever.”

Gray says rain needs to fall to the north of the lake to really help the overall system recover from the current dry conditions.

The pumps won’t be installed until the lake level gets to about 10-and-a-half-feet.

The main drainage system for Collier County’s sprawling Golden Gate Estates is getting an upgrade. The South Florida Water Management District has broken ground on what’s called ‘Weir Number Two’.

It’s one of 3 gate-like structures along the Golden Gate Canal that let water managers control how quickly water flows through it.

Director of the District’s Big Cypress Basin - Clarence Tears – says this new weir will give them much more flexibility.

“We’re replacing that wall with draw bridges which open up incrementally. And we can open it up a little bit earlier in the wet season to get some of that freshwater needed to the estuaries and hopefully reduce the impacts during major storm events to the estuaries. And also it gives us the ability to hold water back during dry season.”

Flooding has been a problem for many residents of Golden Gate Estates - especially during heavy rainfall events like Tropical Storm Ernesto this summer – because gates like Weir Number Two couldn’t let water through fast enough.

But the on flip side of that coin…environmental groups say too much water flowing from the canal hurts Naples Bay. Tears says the ultimate goal is to strike a balance between the two.

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Water managers in Collier County will soon have more control over how much water flows through the Golden Gate Canal.

They broke ground this morning on Weir Number Two.

The gate-like structure they’re replacing is basically just a wall that water flows over if it reaches a certain height. The new one will allow incremental changes in how quickly – or slowly – water flows.

Director of the District’s Big Cypress Basin - Clarence Tears – says the added flexibility will aid a return to more historic flows.

“This is the Golden Gate main drainage system. It drains about 120 square mile area…historically it only drained 10. We’re trying to divert some of the surface water flows further to the south, and by adding these structures we’ll be able to do that, and try to mimic the more natural historic flows that went through Collier County.”

Environmental groups say too much fresh water flowing from the canal is harming Naples Bay.

The new weir will also help reduce flooding after major rainfall events by allowing water to flow more quickly than with the old, simple structure being replaced.

The 4-point-2-million-dollar project should be complete in 2 years.

The ribbon will be cut this morning on a new water treatment plant in North Fort Myers. It’s Lee County Utilities’ first venture into reverse osmosis technology. The city of Cape Coral has used reverse osmosis, or r/o, to make brackish groundwater suitable for consumption for well over a decade. Now the county has followed suit. Patty DiPiero is a spokeswoman for Lee County Utilities.

“We knew that the population was growing here in Southwest Florida and we knew it was becoming a stress on our freshwater aquifers, so when we did this we considered an alternative water source for the project to meet those demands.”

The 32-million-dollar plant has actually been operating for a month – serving the water needs of about 42 thousand people. R/O costs more than traditional water treatment. But so far, rates have not gone up. Another R/O plant is under construction in South Lee County.
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Water is being pumped to Lee County Utility Customers in North Fort Myers from a new treatment plant. The facility uses reverse osmosis, or R-O, to make slightly-brackish groundwater fit for consumption. Patty DiPiero of Lee County Utilities says...so far, so good.

“We have some experienced some customers saying they did notice a change in the water quality they’re enjoying the water quality and seen some changes in water pressure coming out of the pipes. So far all the feedback has been positive.”

The county is using R-O because fresh groundwater reserves are shrinking. The plant includes two, 2-point-5 million gallon storage tanks and provides water to approximately 42 thousand people. The official ribbon cutting is today at 11:00.

The chairwoman of the Lee County Commission struck a conciliatory tone yesterday over Lake Okeechobee water releases. But Tammy Hall threatened new legal action if the U-S Army Corps of Engineers doesn’t alter its release schedule. The Corps manages the water level of Lake Okeechobee. Too much and the dike is in danger of bursting, flooding thousands of nearby homes and businesses. So Corps managers send polluted water to the east and west down the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee Rivers to ease the pressure, but doing environmental damage to the waterways and their estuaries. The Corps met with concerned residents in Fort Myers last week and soon another group of local officials will address the issue. Speaking on Gulf Coast Live, Lee Commission Chairwoman Tammy Hall says they unsuccessfully sued the Corps in 2002.

“We’re prepared to go back to court if we have to. But I’m hoping that our dialog with the Corps can be more conducive to working together, waiting for three years in a court and $5 million later for a decision. If we go to court, we want to win.”

Hall says ‘science’ should drive water release decisions...not political pressure. She says the Caloosahatchee River is just as important to Florida as Lake Okeechobee.

Representatives from the Army Corps of Engineers were in Ft. Myers last night to get public input on their proposed schedule for water releases from Lake Okeechobee. Hundreds of people showed up.
Releases of nutrient laden fresh water from Lake Okeechobee down the Caloosahatchee River have wreaked environmental havoc with the estuary. Environmental officials and others in Lee County want the releases cut back, but under the proposed new plan they could increase. Kurt Harclerode is Operations Manager for Lee County Natural Resources.

“the new schedule calls for a limit on the elevation of lake Okeechobee – now a lower elevation – which is a constraint – and that’s to protect people around lake Okeechobee and the Herbert Hoover dyke, but what that means is that water needs to be removed sooner and more rapidly and unfortunately that water is in most cases coming our way.”

Harclerode says the Corps of Engineers needs to explore other options to lower the lake level, including sending water south from the lake and adding more storage to the north.

Cape Coral residents who overpaid for utility expansion projects can expect to see refunds next month. Mayor Eric Feichthaler says costs for the installation of water, sewer and irrigation lines were cheaper than expected -- and residents should have received money back years ago. The refunds follow several audits that were critical of Cape Coral. Speaking on W-G-C-U’s Gulf Coast Live, Mayor Feichthaler said he’s trying to make sure that doesn’t happen again.

“Rather than blame and point fingers, we have to move forward and find ways to ensure that when we do have audits and we have outside views of these types of things, we have very good controls in place where there is no doubt about being fully cooperative, getting out information as quickly as possible and to make sure this lack of communication that we’ve seen never happens again.”

Repair work on the dike surrounding Lake Okeechobee is on hold – while engineers work to determine how best to bolster the aging structure.

The 300-million-dollar project started in January…but engineers discovered some of the concrete they’d poured wasn’t setting up correctly.

Corps spokeswoman Nanciann Regalado says unexpected sand deposits were weakening the concrete - so repairs were stopped to make sure they were done right…

“We’re getting ready to start a pilot project in fact. Everything’s going to be done on a scale that would allow us to go back and re-evaluate without being so far down the path that we have a major, major project stopping and then starting over again from scratch.”

The pilot project gets underway next month near Pahokee on the lake’s southeastern rim.

The 25-year federally-funded repair job began after a state consultant said the 143-mile-long dike was at risk of collapsing.