DRAINAGE GENERATION AND WATER USE IN THE EVERGLADES AGRICULTURAL AREA BASIN1

ABSTRACT: The Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) covers 2,850 km² in area and is characterized by high water table and organic soil. The area is actively irrigated and drained as a function of weather conditions and crop status. Anthropogenic activities in the basin have resulted in nutrient-enriched drainage water that is discharged to Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades ecosystem. Water quantity and quality issues of the basin have become of increasing interest at local, state, and federal levels, so legislative and regulatory measures have been taken to improve water quality in discharges from the basin. In this study, simulation of hydrologic conditions and soil moisture were conducted using 100 years of daily synthetic rainfall data. From the simulations, the statistical distribution of half-month drainage discharge and supplemental water use in the basin was developed. The mean annual drainage/runoff was 49 cm, the mean supplemental water was 30 cm, and the mean annual a real rainfall was 122 cm. On the average, drainage exceeded supplemental water use in the months of June to September while from December to March drainage and supplemental water use were equivalent. Supplemental water use exceeded drainage in the months of October, November, April, and May. High drainage occurred in June and September; smallest drainage was in February. On the average, the highest supplemental water use occurred in May and November. The 10-year return period of annual drainage during wet and dry cycles were 60 cm and 38 cm per year, respectively. The semi-monthly drainage coefficient of variation (cv) is above 100 percent for the period from the second half of October to end of April. The cv is lower than 100 percent for the remaining season (wet season). The purpose of this paper is to present the magnitude, temporal, and frequency distribution of drainage runoff generation and supplemental water use in the EAA basin. Information on statistics of drainage will contribute to the optimization of the design and operation of drainage water treatment systems.     

Importance of landscape heterogeneity to wood storks in Florida Everglades

Declines in populations of and reproductive success of wood storks and other wading birds have occurred in the Florida Everglades over the past several decades. These declines have been concurrent with major changes in the Everglades’ landscape characteristics. Among the plausible hypotheses that relate to landscape change are the following: (1) general loss of habitat; (2) heavy loss of specific habitat, namely, short-hydroperiod wetlands that provide high prey availability early in the breeding season; and (3) an increase in frequency of major drying out of the central slough areas, which can affect prey availability late in the breeding season. These three hypotheses were compared using an individual-based model of wood stork (Mycteria americana) reproduction. This model simulated the behavior and energetics of each individual wood stork in a breeding colony on 15-min time intervals. Changes in water depth and prey availability occurred on daily time steps. Simulation results showed a threshold response in reproductive success to reduction of wetland heterogeneity. Model comparisons in which (1) only short-hydroperiod wetlands were removed and (2) wetlands of both long and short hydroperiods were removed showed that, for the same loss of total area, the specific habitat removal caused a much greater reduction in wood stork reproduction, indicating hypothesis 2 may be a more likely explanation than hypothesis 1. Reduction of initial prey availability in the central slough areas (simulating frequent drying; hypothesis 3) reduced fledging success by an average of more than 90% in the model.     

Natural product biomarkers as indicators of sources and transport of sedimentary organic matter in a subtropical river

The sources and transformations of sedimentary organic matter along the Harney River, a representative subtropical river of the Florida Everglades, were assessed using a natural product biomarker approach. Sediment samples were collected from the headwaters to the Continental Shelf, with characteristic vegetation dominated by freshwater marsh species, mangrove (middle to lower estuary), and seagrass as the marine end-member. A peat sample was collected inland. All sample extracts were analyzed by GC–MS as underivatized and as silylated compounds. With these total extract analyses, major compound classes can be defined: n-alkanols, n-alkanoic acids, methyl alkanoates, methyl - and ω-hydroxyalkanoates, triterpenoids, phytosterols and saccharides, with traces of hydrocarbons. In general, the peat sample extract has a different overall composition compared to the sediment extracts. The major differences include distinct carbon number maxima for the lipid series (e.g., C_max = 28 for n-alkanols) probably from sawgrass and periphyton biomass, and predominance of phytosterols (sitosterol and stigmasterol) from higher plant detritus. In contrast, river sediment extracts contain biomarkers predominantly from mangrove-derived organic matter, such as the triterpenoids taraxerol and myricadiol. Significant amounts of saccharides and ω-hydroxyalkanoates are also found. Generally, compound concentrations decrease downstream due to dilution, and alteration of organic compounds from plant waxes and coastal vegetation is obvious in both peat and sediment samples. This is confirmed by the significant low abundance of n-alkanes and n-alkenoic acids due to biodegradation, oxidation of -tocopherol to homophytanic acid γ-lactone, and presence of traces of dihydrolacunosic acid, a photochemical alteration product of taraxerol.     

WATER QUALITY TRENDS AT INFLOWS TO EVERGLADES NATIONAL PARK1

ABSTRACT: Water quality data collected at inflows to Everglades National Park (ENP) are analyzed for trends using the seasonal Kendall test (Hirsch et al., 1982; Hirsch and Slack, 1984). The period of record is 1977–1989 for inflows to Shark River Slough and 1983–1989 for inflows to Taylor Slough and ENP's Coastal Basin. The analysis considers 20 water quality components, including nutrients, field measurements, inorganic species, and optical properties. Significant (p<0.10) increasing trends in total phosphorus concentration are indicated at eight out of nine stations examined. When the data are adjusted to account for variations in antecedent rainfall and water surface elevation, increasing trends are indicated at seven out of nine stations. Phosphorus trend magnitudes range from 4 percent/year to 21 percent/year Decreasing trends in the Total N/P ratio are detected at seven out of nine stations. N/P trend magnitudes range from -7 percent/year to -15 percent/year. Trends in water quality components other than nutrients are observed less frequently and are of less importance from a water-quality-management perspective. The apparent nutrient trends are not explained by variations in marsh water elevation, antecedent rainfall, flow, or season.     

Water quality standards: Everglades National Park

Water quality criteria were developed for delivery waters to Everglades National Park. The park receives a minimum of 12.34 m³/sec (315,000 acre-ft/yr) of water from controlled sources external to its boundary. These waters often originate from areas that are or potentially are impacted from urban and agricultural developments. When, in 1970, the U.S. Congress guaranteed minimum water deliveries to Everglades National Park, it also required that these waters be of good quality.The Everglades National Park water quality data base was analyzed from 1970 to 1978 at both in-park and water delivery sites to determine the current level of delivery water quality and to select representative delivery sites. It was found that current delivery water quality was sufficiently high to be adopted as criteria against which future water quality could be compared. From the delivery sites S-12C and L-67A all data were combined from 1970–1978 for 36 parameters including macronutrients, heavy metals, and field parameters such as DO, pH, and specific conductance. Mean concentrations and upper limits were computed and tabulated for comparison during future monitoring programs. These criteria were subsequently adopted through a joint memorandum of agreement between the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, South Florida Water Management District and the U.S. National Park Service.     

USING CROP YIELD AND EVAPOTRANSPIRATION RELATIONS FOR REGIONAL WATER REQUIREMENT ESTIMATION1

ABSTRACT: Values of dry biomass of corn, sugarcane, sorghum, rice, taro, millet, cotton, cowpeas, soybeans, and velvet beans as related to the evapotranspiration (ET) were studied. The linear regression model was sufficiently accurate to establish the crop dry biomass and ET relations. A water-use efficiency index (WUE), which is defined as the additional crop dry biomass per unit ET, is used in this study. The WUE were grouped into high, medium, and low categories. The WUE varied from greater than 35 kg ha^-1/mm for the high category, between 15 and 35 kg ha^-1/mm for the medium category, and less than 15 kg ha^-1/mm for the low category. Application of the established model to the Everglades Agricultural Area, Florida, showed that the regional El can be predicted from the known regional crop yields. The crop yield and ET relations could be used as a potential tool to improve water resources planning and management practices for crop production.     

External threats and internal management: the hydrologic regulation of the Everglades,Florida, USA

The ecological character of seasonal marshes is determined in large part by the pattern of water level fluctuation. As a result, the ecological health of a wetland reserve can be controlled by hydrologic regulation external to its boundaries. As an example, the Everglades marsh of Everglades National Park in Florida, USA, has been severely effected by management of the inflow of surface water. The Everglades occupies most of the interior of southern Florida, but only the lower 6% of the original marsh is contained in Everglades National Park. Shallow surface water reservoirs north of the park enclose 3600 km² of Everglades. Their levee system confines surface water flow into the park to several structures. Historically this water flowed across the entire core of the natural drainage. Flows into the park have been on a congressionally mandated schedule of minimum deliveries that is supplemented by additional water released into the park in amounts determined solely by upstream water management needs. My research, aimed at evaluating the effects of water conditions, has shown that this regulatory system has adversely affected reproductive success, community structure, and population sizes of sensitive species whose population stability is tied to natural water level fluctuations. These adverse effects were caused by water levels that for over a decade have been maintained at unseasonably high levels. Mathematically deterministic models of water level effects can provide management options based on biologial criteria. Park managers must incorporate understanding gained from such models into internal management decisions. Modifications of water control structures and alternative policies for managing the distribution and amount of surface water flow into the park appear attainable, can improve biological conditions in the park, and need not be adverse to neighboring external interests. Thus far biological changes are severe, and to a large extent irreversible. Ecologically sensitive management of an external threat under constraints imposed by history and setting can better maintain some semblance of ecological processes in the Everglades. If management decisions do not reflect such understanding of ecological processes, further ecological deterioration will result.     

Assessing drought-related ecological risk in the Florida Everglades

In the winter-spring of 2001, South Florida experienced one of the worst droughts in its recorded history. Out of a myriad of ecological concerns identified during this time, the potential for catastrophic peat fire and negative impacts to wading bird reproduction emerged as critical issues. Water managers attempted to strike a balance between the environment and protection of water supplies for agriculture and urban interests. It became evident, however, that a broad-scale, integrated way to portray and prioritise ecological stress was lacking in the Florida Everglades, despite this being considered a necessary tool for addressing issues of environmental protection. In order to provide a framework for evaluating various water management operations using real-time information, we developed GIS-based indices of peat-fire risk and wading bird habitat suitability. These indices, based on real physical, chemical, and biological data, describe two ecological conditions that help define the physical and biological integrity of the Everglades. In addition to providing continuous, updated assessments throughout the drought period, we incorporated predictive models of water levels to evaluate how various water management alternatives might exacerbate or alleviate ecological stress during this time.     

Recent Changes in Soil Total Phosphorus in the Everglades: Water Conservation Area 3

We assessed recent changes in the distribution of soil total phosphorus (TP) in Water Conservation Area 3 (WCA-3) of the Everglades. Soil cores were collected in 1992 and 2003 at 176 sites. To reflect hydrologic boundaries within the system, WCA-3 was divided into three zones (3AN, 3AS, and 3B). Total P was mapped on both a mass (TPm) and a volumetric basis (TPv) to determine if spatial distributions varied depending on the choice of units. Interpolated maps for both years showed that the highest levels of TPm were located in 3AN and in boundary areas of all zones that received surface water inputs of P from canals. Increases in TPm were greatest in central 3AN in an area adjacent to the Miami Canal that received inputs from a water control structure. Interpolated maps for TPv illustrated that a hotspot present in 1992 had disappeared by 2003. The highest levels of TPv in 2003 were located in northwestern 3AN, a region of WCA-3 that has been chronically overdrained and burned in 1999. From 1992 to 2003, increases in TPm were observed for 53% of the area of WCA-3, while only 16% of WCA-3 exhibited increases in TPv. In 1992, approximately 21% of WCA-3 had TPm concentrations in the 0–10 cm layer >500 mg kg⁻¹, indicating P enrichment beyond historic levels. Eleven years later, 30% of the area of WCA-3 had TPm >500 mg kg⁻¹. This indicated that during this period, the area of WCA-3 with enriched TPm concentrations increased about one % year⁻¹.     

Distribution of total and methylmercury in different ecosystem compartments in the Everglades: implications for mercury bioaccumulation

We analyzed Hg species distribution patterns among ecosystem compartments in the Everglades at the landscape level in order to explore the implications of Hg distribution for Hg bioaccumulation and to investigate major biogeochemical processes that are pertinent to the observed Hg distribution patterns. At an Everglade-wide scale, THg concentrations were significantly increased in the following order: periphytonEverglades. Mosquitofish THg positively correlated with periphyton MeHg and DOC-normalized water MeHg. The relative THg and MeHg distribution patterns among ecosystem compartments favor Hg bioaccumulation in the Everglades.