September 8, 2010
We have asked PURRE members to contact the South Florida Water Management District’s governing board prior to tomorrow’s vote on what is called “Adaptive Protocols” – which means how much water should be released from Lake Okeechobee during dry periods, when the Caloosahatchee actually needs some Lake Okeechobee water to ensure the estuary doesn’t become too salty for its habitats and ecosystem.
To help explain more about this, here are links to articles in today’s News-Press.
The first article, “Lake release proposal pits farmers vs. rivers,” explains the issue and the conflict between agriculture and the rivers. One of the water district’s governing board members, Charles Dauray, is quoted: “What bothers me and others is when we go into a dry period, agriculture seems to come first. … That doesn’t wash with me. There has to be shared adversity.”
Read the whole article here:
http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/201009080110/NEWS01/9080370
In the same edition, a News-Press editorial supports what PURRE has been saying: “We understand that there is a real risk to agriculture in dry periods. But our river and marine environments are just as important to our economy as agriculture is to other areas. The fact that Southwest Florida is getting the low priority is a continuation of the district’s traditional bias in favor of agriculture over the environment and against Southwest Florida. That needs to end.”
Read the whole editorial here:
http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/201009080110/OPINION/100907040
Finally, here is the letter the PURRE Water Coalition sent to each member of the SFWMD governing board and to its executive director, Carol Wehle.
Dear [Name of Governing Board Member]:
The board of directors and members of the PURRE Water Coalition Foundation, Inc., urge you to reject the staff recommendation on Adaptive Protocols at your Sept. 9 meeting and instead find an alternative method for managing water more equitably – one that doesn’t treat our river and estuary like a dumping ground in the wet season and ignore it in the dry season thereby creating a dangerous saltwater estuary that is an environmental disaster.
It’s time to stop putting agriculture first at the expense of the environment and to treat all affected by water releases as equals. What we are asking you to do is simple: be fair to all. We know agriculture is important, but it is also a private interest, as opposed to the estuary and the environment which are public interests. It is wrong and decidedly unfair to favor one over the other. It is time for that favoritism to end. We are not asking for special treatment – just fair treatment. We were promised shared adversity, but that is not what we have been experiencing.
Implementation of the emergency storage options we were promised by the District four years ago to reduce damaging high releases from the lake would be a good start to grant relief to the estuaries at least during the wet season.
Thank you for your consideration.
Yours truly,
Michael J. Valiquette
Michael J. Valiquette, Chairman of the Board
PURRE Water Coalition Foundation, Inc.
www.purre.org
PLEASE EMAIL TODAY. Send your emails to:
Carol Wehle, Exec. Dir., 800-432-2045 executivedirector@sfwmd.gov
Eric Buermann, Chair. 305-446-0045. ebuermann@sfwmd.gov
Jerry Montgomery, Vice-Chair. 561-682-6433. jmontgom@sfwmd.gov
Sandy Batchelor. Phone 561-682-6433. sbatchel@sfwmd.gov
Joe Collins. Phone 863-763-3041. jcollins@sfwmd.gov
Charles Dauray. Phone 239-992-2184. cdauray@sfwmd.gov
Shannon Estenoz. Phone 954-205-1132. sestenoz@sfwmd.gov
Kevin Powers. Phone 561-682-6433. kpowers@sfwmd.gov
Patrick J. Rooney, Jr. Phone 561-682-6433. prooney@sfwmd.gov
Glenn Waldman. Phone 561-682-6433. gwaldman@sfwmd.gov
