Florida Administrative Code › 40 - WATER MANAGEMENT DISTRICTS › 40E - South Florida Water Management District › Chapter 40E-63 - EVERGLADES PROGRAM › Part I - EVERGLADES REGULATORY PROGRAM: EVERGLADES AGRICULTURAL AREA (EAA) BASIN › Section 40E-63.011 - Policy and Purpose

Current through Reg. 50, No. 138; July 16, 2024
(1) The Everglades
				  is a unique national resource. It has a high diversity of species, and provides
				  habitat for large populations of wading birds and several threatened and
				  endangered species, including wood storks, snail kites, bald eagles, Florida
				  panthers, and American crocodiles. Large portions of the northern and eastern
				  Everglades have been drained and converted to agricultural or urban land uses.
				  Only 50% of the original Everglades ecosystem remains today. The remainder is
				  the largest and most important freshwater sub-tropical peatland in North
				  America. The remaining components of the historic Everglades are located in the
				  Water Conservation Areas (WCAs) and Everglades National Park (ENP). ENP and
				  Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge (WCA 1) are Outstanding Florida Waters, a
				  designation which requires special protection for the resource.
(2) Large portions of the Everglades
				  ecosystem have evolved in response to low ambient concentrations of nutrients
				  and seasonal fluctuations of water levels. Prior to creation of the Everglades
				  Agricultural Area (EAA), nitrogen and phosphorus were mainly supplied to large
				  areas only in rainfall. Phosphorus is the primary limiting nutrient throughout
				  the remaining Everglades. Sawgrass has lower phosphorus requirements than other
				  species of Everglades vegetation.
(3) A substantial portion of EAA nutrients is
				  transported to the remaining Everglades either in dissolved or in particulate
				  form in surface waters. The introduction of phosphorus from EAA drainage water
				  has resulted in ecological changes in substantial areas of Everglades marsh.
				  These changes are cultural eutrophication, which is an increase in the supply
				  of nutrients available in the marsh. The increased supply of phosphorus in
				  Everglades marshes has resulted in documented impacts in several trophic
				  levels, including microbial, periphyton, and macrophyte. The areal extent of
				  these impacts is increasing.
(4)
				  The State of Florida enacted The Marjory Stoneman Douglas Everglades Protection
				  Act in 1991. The Act required the District to publish notice of rulemaking by
				  October 1, 1991, allowing for a master permit or permits authorizing
				  discharges, subject to conditions or requirements, from landowners within the
				  area served by the drainage structures listed in Appendix A3, TABLE A1. That
				  law was substantially revised in 1994 and is codified today as the Everglades
				  Forever Act, Section  373.4592, F.S.
(5) The regulatory program to address the
				  reduction of total phosphorus loads from the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA)
				  in general was adopted initially by this chapter in December 1991 and was
				  amended in 1992 to add a specific phosphorus load
				  allocation.
Rulemaking Authority
						373.044,
						373.113 FS. Law Implemented
						373.016,
						373.451,
						373.453,
						373.4592
						FS.
New 1-22-92, Amended 7-7-92,
						7-3-01.