Phosphorus reduction in water leaving the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) south of Lake Okeechobee exceeded state-established goals during water year 2004, marking the ninth consecutive year the goal was surpassed, the South Florida Water Management District is reporting.

For water year 2004, the period from May 1, 2003, to April 30, 2004, the total amount of phosphorus leaving the EAA was measured at 64 percent, as compared against a 10-year baseline period. The goal established by the state’s Everglades Forever Act requires EAA landowners to collectively achieve a 25 percent reduction in the phosphorus level of water leaving the EAA each year. The baseline used to calculate these percentages consists of a 10-year average prior to enactment of the Everglades Forever Act, from 1978-1988.

The key to this plan is the requirement that EAA landowners implement best management practices (BMPs) -- farming practices for managing water, nutrients and sediments in stormwater discharges. These BMPs include improved pumping practices to retain more phosphorus-laden sediments in the water within the landowners’ property, erosion controls, and more efficient fertilizer application techniques. The baseline prediction estimates phosphorus discharges if BMPs had not been implemented. It also incorporates a hydrologic adjustment to account for rainfall differences between years.
 
All total for water year 2004, 82 metric tons of phosphorus (with an average concentration of 69 parts per billion) flowed from the EAA basin (including farms, towns and industry). With no implementation of BMPs, an average of 229 metric tons of phosphorus (with an average concentration of 173 parts per billion) would have left the EAA in runoff.

The phosphorus reduction trend has averaged more than 50 percent in the past three water years and has exceeded the 25 percent goal every year since phosphorus reductions were first mandated. To date BMPs have prevented more than 1,300 tons of phosphorus from entering EAA discharges. The majority of the phosphorus leaving the EAA Basin receives further treatment before entering the Everglades through stormwater treatment areas (STAs), a series of large man-made wetlands. These STAs further reduce the metric tons of phosphorus and the parts per billion concentration of phosphorus entering the Everglades.

“These results are proof-positive that best management practices are getting the job done,” said Henry Dean, Executive Director of the South Florida Water Management District. “And the fact that the set goal has been bested every year speaks volumes about the willingness of the landowners in the Everglades Agricultural Area to work with us to reduce phosphorus levels.”

The South Florida Water Management District is a regional, governmental agency that oversees the water resources in the southern half of the state – 16 counties from Orlando to the Keys. It is the oldest and largest of the state’s five water management districts. The agency mission is to manage and protect water resources of the region by balancing and improving water quality, flood control, natural systems and water supply. A key initiative is cleanup and restoration of the Everglades.