Impact of 20th Century Water-Management and Land-Use Practices on the Coastal Hydrology of Southeast Florida

Principal Investigator: Robert Renken Project Personnel: John Koehmstedt, Scott Ishman, and Joann Dixon Proposals, Project Summaries and Work Plan Metadata Publications

Please note - this is a completed project.

Summary

This synthesis will assess the hydrogeologic character of the surficial aquifer system, review the extensive impact of water-management controls on the hydrologic system, and examine the manner in which urban and agricultural areas have effected the ambient quality of ground water.

The urban and agricultural corridor of South Florida lies between the Everglades and Water Conservation areas to the west and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. This area includes eastern Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach Counties and is subject to widely conflicting stresses on the environment. The Shark River Slough, a deep water slough which historically channeled water from the eastern Everglades and moved water to the southwest, is located immediately west of this corridor. A highly controlled water management system has evolved during this century largely to provide drained land for a rapidly expanding population. Reclamation of Everglades wetland areas during the last 75 years provided the opportunity for westward expansion of agricultural, mining, and urban activities. In Water Conservation Areas that lie to the west of the protective levee system, surface water is impounded, partly to sustain an Everglades ecosystem, partly to keep overland sheet flow from moving eastward and flooding urban and agricultural areas, and partly for water supply.

In coastal areas of the urban-agricultural corridor, parallel environmental conflicts exist. Coastal residential and urban areas must be drained for flood control; the underlying aquifer system must simultaneously serve as the principal source for water supply and heads must be maintained to prevent salt water intrusion. Changes in predevelopment ground-water flow patterns and the associated reduction in ground-water discharge to coastal bays has altered salinity in and affected the local ecology.

The extensive canal network that incises the underlying unconfined aquifer has historically resulted in deleterious consequences: overdrainage, inland migration of coastal salt water and intrusion of these saline waters to nearby municipal well fields. The construction of canals and pumping from the surficial aquifer for water supply in south Florida has resulted in the lowering of water levels in the Everglades and in the aquifer. Consequently, the hydrodynamic balance between freshwater and saltwater in the ground-water flow system has changed, resulting in inland migration of saltwater into the freshwater aquifers. Coastal well fields used by many communities in South Florida are threatened, with some closed due to the inland movement of the saltwater.

This synthesis will assess the hydrogeologic character of the surficial aquifer system, review the extensive impact of water-management controls on the hydrologic system, and examine the manner in which urban and agricultural areas have effected the ambient quality of ground water. In addition, this synthesis will examine the overall status of saltwater intrusion in South Florida, potential effects of Everglades restoration scenarios on intrusion, and the impact on water supply and the South Florida ecosystem due to saltwater intrusion.

Proposals

• 1999
• 2001

Project Summaries

• 2001
• 2002
• 2003

Work Plan

• 2003

Publications

Abstracts:

• Impact of Water Management on Coastal Hydrology in Southeastern Florida (from the GEER Conference, April 2003)
• Synthesis on the Impact of 20th Century Water-Management and Land-Use Practices on the Coastal Hydrology of Southeastern Florida (abstract is from the GEER Conference, December 2000)
• Technical considerations for a large network of ASR wells in the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Program in Kuniansky, E.K.,ed., U.S. Geological Survey Artificial Recharge Workshop Proceedings, Sacramento, California, April 2-4, 2002: U.S. Geological Survey Open File Report 02-89, p 84

  Open File Report:

• Sequence-Stratigraphic Analysis of the Regional Observation Monitoring Program (ROMP) 29A Test Corehole and Its Relation to Carbonate Porosity and Regional Transmissivity in the Floridan Aquifer System, Highlands County, Florida: Prepared as part of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Program, U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 03-201

  Paper:

• Considerations for regional ASR in restoring the Florida Everglades, USA, by Fies,M.A., Renken, R.A. and Komlos, Shawn, in Management of Aquifer Recharge for Sustainability, Proceedings of the 4th International Symposium on Artifical Recharge, Adelaide, Australia, September 22-26, 2002, Dillon, P.J. (ed), The Netherlands: A.A. Balkema Publishers, p. 341-346.

  Poster:

• Synthesis on the Impact of 20th Century Water-Management and Land-Use Practices on the Coastal Hydrology of Southeastern Florida (presented at the 2000 GEER Conference)

  Water Resources Investigations:

• Approach for Delineation of Contributing Areas and Zones of Transport to Selected Public-Supply Wells Using a Regional Ground-Water Flow Model, Palm Beach County, Florida (Water Resources Investigations Report 01-4158, available from the Water Resources of Florida website)