In 1994 the South Florida Water Management District adopted the Lower West Coast Water Supply Plan to develop a long-term plan to better management the region’s water resources. The document is updated every 5 years, with the last update being in 2000 and the District currently preparing the 2005 update. Many of the recommendations made by the Smart Committee are already included in the LWCWSP, several recommendations that could be addressed on a regional effort are not currently included in the Plan. Outlined below are recommendations made by the Committee that could be adopted by the Water Management District in their 2005 update of the Lower West Coast Water Supply Plan. The recommendations are organized to fit into Chapter Six of the LWCWSP Planning document, which includes the Plan’s recommendations.
Subtask 1.1.c. Support and promote the Florida Yards and Neighborhoods program.
Subtask 1.1.d. Develop “sector-focused” components of the District’s comprehensive conservation program
Issue 6: Storage
Subtask 6.1.2.a. The District should move ahead with rulemaking only after careful studies of ASR methods are completed to ensure protection of the region’s water supply and water quality.
Recommendation 6.2.2: The District will examine the water storage potential for existing and future mining lands, with an emphasis on water quality. The utilization of fees to encourage increased storage will be considered.
Subtask 7.2.1. To ensure protection for the Caloosahatchee Estuary, the District will implement a short-term plan to mitigate high flows in the Caloosahatchee River until Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) improvements are online.
Subtask 7.8.1: The District will explore the development of a “mixing model” for use in planning practices regarding the region’s estuaries. The development of the model will benefit recreation, water quality, public health, etc.
Recommendation 7.9: As the District and Lee County explore the possibility of desalination, the two entities should evaluate the cost of an engineered solution in relation to more traditional conservation methods. Also, the two entities will explore various funding mechanisms for the treatment, including taxes and/or hook-up fees.
Issue 8: Related Implementation Strategies
Subtask 8.1.1.c. When developing new water management rules, the District shall strive to promote optimal conditions rather than minimum conditions for the natural system as the basis of supply planning.
Recommendation 8.1.3: Through the LWCWSP the District will pursue a common set of local permitting, enforcement, and compliance criteria, incentives, and regulatory measures specifically for Southwest Florida condition. Two main goals of the criteria would be rehydration of the region and the attainment of local minimum flow and level standards.
Recommendation 8.5: To ensure better long term planning of the region’s water supply, the District will work with local governments to develop better information regarding the region’s carrying capacity to ensure informed and rational decisions are made based on sound science and information.
Recommendation 8.6: The District will support local government efforts to establish water budgets that adequately describe how we currently use our water resources in order to support long-term planning efforts.