Sugar growers sue Army Corps over water level in reservoir for Everglades restoration
South Florida sugar farmers are suing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers over water levels in a massive reservoir considered key to Everglades restoration and reducing coastal algae blooms.
Florida Crystals, through its Okeelanta Corp. subsidiary, the Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative of Florida and U.S. Sugar filed separate complaints on Thursday alleging the Corps is planning on operating the reservoir, which is still being built, under a strategy that will reduce their water supply. The three companies want the reservoir to be kept at higher levels than what the Corps is planning, according to the complaints.
“Farms need a secure supply of water, and all farmers need certainty as we plan and manage our planting schedules and crop rotation,” Jaime Vega, Florida Crystals’ vice president of agriculture, said in a statement.
The Everglades Agricultural Area reservoir is one of the most important Everglades restoration projects as it’s expected to improve water quality flowing south through Shark Valley in Everglades National Park, taking much-needed fresh water all the way south to Florida Bay. Once completed, the reservoir and its stormwater treatment area component will clean water from Lake Okeechobee before it flows south. It will also reduce the need for polluted lake water discharges to estuaries on the east and west coasts of the state, which has led to harmful algae booms in past years.
Water in Lake O has a high concentration of nutrients because of runoff from surrounding agricultural lands, septic tanks and storm-water reservoirs from nearby urban areas. The lake is also a gatekeeper between the watershed in the north and the southern Everglades and a key source of water for farming and drinking in surrounding areas.
Sugar farmers rely on Lake O water to irrigate their fields, especially in the dry season. The amount of water available depends on how the Corps operates the lake, and now also on how it will operate the reservoir that is under construction and expected to be completed next year.
The complaints are all similar and focus on water supply assumptions the Corps is planning on using to manage levels in the EAA reservoir.
Sugar growers want the reservoir to be kept at a level that will guarantee water supplies according to a 2000 baseline, when Lake Okeechobee was kept at higher levels. The Corps is planning on operating the reservoir based on a 2008 set of data, when the lake was kept lower due to ongoing repairs on the Herbert Hoover Dike, according to the complaints.
Everglades restoration advocates said the lawsuits are part of the sugar industry’s playbook to put their priorities over other needs for Lake Okeechobee water.
“They have always been at the front of the line and now they are not happy with how the lake and the reservoir will be operated in a more equitable way,” said Eric Eikenberg, chief executive officer of the Everglades Foundation. He said the Corps’ plans to operate the reservoir won’t hinder water supply to sugar crops or residential users.
Sugar growers have complained since 2012 about the reservoir’s planned operations even before it was designed. Florida Crystals, for instance, has sent at least six comment letters to the Corps asking it to comply with 2000 water supply rules.
The Army Corps said it doesn’t comment on ongoing litigation.
All three sugar growers said in their complaints that they are not attempting to block construction of the reservoir.
This story was originally published August 28, 2021 at 8:28 AM.
.jpg)