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WHAT THEY ARE
SAYING
We’re farming plants, and using those plants to uptake the nutrients to help clean the water and eventually send the water on down Lake O and eventually down into the Everglades.
BEN BUTLER
BOARD MEMBER
South Florida Water Management District
The project will capture water from the Kissimmee River and runoff while reducing the nutrient pollution in several basins such as the S-154 Basin in the Taylor Creek/Nubbin Slough Subwatershed that flow into Lake Okeechobee. This subwatershed typically has one of the highest phosphorus loads of any watershed flowing into Lake Okeechobee, and the S-154 Basin typically has one of the highest phosphorus loads of any basin in that subwatershed.
South Florida Water Management District
So I'm just a huge fan of this project, but I want to thank the people who have spoken today for coming and you're right ... I will tell you that the lake has to have a break from that basin. We have to find a way. And if not now, remember, the window is closing on us. We don't have a lot of time. And now we have a willing seller and we have a location that is a great location … And I'm hoping that we can move forward with this. I certainly am going to vote yes on this.
CHERYL MEADES
BOARD MEMBER
South Florida Water Management District
These types of projects are major steps to reaching water quality goals outlined by the state agencies and the BMAPs and will protect both our wildlife and human communities. One such project is this STA we've mentioned. We're very supportive of the lower Kissimmee basin STA because it is actually in a very ideal location. According to the district monitoring data and based on the presentation we saw last week, the S -154 basin has some of the highest nutrients of any sub-basin entering the lake directly … We just want to thank you for your continued efforts and we urge you to keep moving forward expeditiously with this project because it will not only help the lake, but it will also help the greater Everglades ecosystem.
CAITLIN NEWCAMP
EVERGLADES POLICY ASSOCIATE
Audubon Florida
We’ve just ended a period of discharges from Lake Okeechobee to our coastal estuaries, hovering on the edge of harm. Meanwhile Lake Okeechobee continues to suffer from elevated lake levels. Simply put, we just need more places to store and treat water before we move it south to support Everglades restoration goals. That’s exactly what this project does. It’s in a prime location. It will have access to Lake Okeechobee water. It will create optimal conditions for a stormwater treatment area.
KELLY COX
DIRECTOR OF EVERGLADES POLICY
Audubon Florida
You’re taking out of production a high [nutrient] loading piece of land and putting in its place something that will treat the surrounding basin to allow all the other ag communities to continue to operate as they do now... It’s the type of thing we need more of throughout the state.
ANNA UPTON
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
Everglades Trust
Whenever we have these huge discharges, we see outsized impacts on our ecosystems, the general environment of our coastal communities and the economy of our coastal communities ... Until we have enough storage in the system to effectively contain and treat the water and put the water where it needs to go in the Everglades, we’re going to continually see those impacts.
MATT DEPAOLIS
ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY DIRECTOR
Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation
The LKBSTA is a proven solution to extract bulk tons of phosphorous at a time, drastically improving the water quality of the lake and other connected waterways. The Basin Management Action Plan from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection shows that this project is a tangible way to drastically decrease the presence of the blooms impacting our natural resources.
KELLIE RALSTON
VICE PRESIDENT OF CONSERVATION AND PUBLIC POLICY
Bonefish and Tarpon Trust
The Lower Kissimmee Basin Stormwater Treatment Area (LKBSTA) will restore the health of the Kissimmee River and Lake Okeechobee, providing immense benefits to the environment, surrounding communities and our precious coastal areas.
SCOTT GREEN
GOVERNMENT RELATIONS CHAIRMAN
Coastal Conservation Association of Florida
As part of the Lake Okeechobee Basin Management Action Plan, the LKBSTA is part of the solution to the water quality issues cause by high nutrients in the South Florida region. This project can make a lasting difference in water quality of Lake Okeechobee and across the broader region.
MARTHA GUYAS
SOUTHEAST FISHERIES POLICY DIRECTOR
American Sportfishing Association
Looking at the data the water quality data for this sub-basin shows that we need a project in this particular basin more than any other and it is based on science the science of water quality monitoring I thank you for doing that and accommodating that so that we can have that data ... I hope that you also will continue to look for more opportunities around this whole area, this whole region for more of these regional water quality projects because we can't stop with one. We have to keep putting them and implementing as many as we need to ultimately meet those Lake Okeechobee water quality goals.
LISA INTERLANDI
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Everglades Law Center
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