STOP THE RIPPLE EFFECT

Below, you will find a list of needed actions - at both the state and federal levels - that are needed to save the Caloosahatchee River and the Everglades. 

Needed State Policy Actions

• Buy land in the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) to provide at least 1 million acre feet of additional storage in the EAA, as well as for additional water quality treatment and conveyance

• Build the C-43 Reservoir, as well as add-on filtration project on adjacent state lands

• Update state stormwater requirements for new development to ensure they capture at least 80% of nitrogen and phosphorus pollution they generate

• Require monitoring of agricultural Best Management Practices to ensure they are properly implemented, and water quality testing of agricultural runoff to see if they are effective – adjusting if not

• Create a Nitrogen Total Maximum Daily Load pollution limit for Lake Okeechobee to control nitrogen pollution upstream

• Stop opposing the Waters of the U.S. Rule and instead support this EPA proposed rule to restore Clean Water Act water quality protection to upstream wetlands and tributaries

• Implement the “Lake Okeechobee Watershed Plan” to store and treat more water north of Lake O, focusing on permanent acquisitions for building projects that increase rate of retention and filtration

• Revise South Florida Water Management District Adaptive Protocols to more equitably distribute water during dry times rather than cutting off river entirely when other users are not even restricted as currently is the case

• Control pollution at its source by setting numeric water quality standards for all flowing waters and upstream waterbodies

• Implement more stringent wetland protection regulations to stop the loss of wetlands that naturally store and cleanse freshwater

• Restore full funding to Florida Forever state land acquisition fund to not only buy easements, but to purchase lands for permanent land and water resource protection

• Assist counties and cities in building more freshwater storage and filtration projects in the Caloosahatchee watershed to lessen pollution and excess runoff from the watershed

• Develop Total Maximum Daily Load pollutant limits for all waters not meeting state water quality standards within the next 5 years, and Basin Management Action Plans to restore them within the following 5 years

Needed Federal Policy Actions

• Work with state to identify and acquire lands in the Everglades Agricultural Area to provide the necessary conveyance, 1 million acre feet of storage and additional treatment to divert high discharges currently going to estuaries

• Implement the EPA Waters of the U.S. Rule to protect upstream wetlands and tributaries

• Provide consistent authorization of Everglades projects by passing a Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) every two years – including passing one this year to authorize the Central Everglades Project.

• Provide sufficient funding to fully fund all authorized Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Projects

• Require state to set numeric pollution standards for all artificial and natural flowing waters to prompt pollution to be controlled at its source

• Revise the Lake Okeechobee Regulation Schedule to ensure appropriate Lake Okeechobee flows to the Caloosahatchee for supporting safe water quality and protection of endangered species

• In federal wetlands permitting, revise methodology to require proper avoidance of wetlands impacts and acre for acre replacement if wetlands are impacted

• Provide remaining federal funding for C-43 Reservoir and assist with its timely construction, as well as design and help construct add on filtration project

• Finish construction of Herbert Hoover Dike improvements, while ensuring lake levels are not raised to levels that would compromise Lake Okeechobee’s ecology (levels over 16’)

• Update and revise the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan to address new technical information and engineering constraints, addressing how and where storage will be replaced from projects deemed infeasible or where storage has been reduced

• Fully fund and complete the Everglades Headwaters Refuge, as well as the Fisheating Creek Headwaters Refuge projects to conserve lands providing natural storage and filtration

• Require state to develop and implement Total Maximum Daily Limits for waters not meeting state water quality standards within the next 5 years

• Pass the Everglades for the Next Generation Act to expedite the authorizations and funding of CERP projects so not dependent on WRDA bills, which can hold up timely progress if not passing every two years