REGIONAL ISSUES IN AQUIFER STORAGE AND RECOVERY FOR EVERGLADES RESTORATION
THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS
Washington, D.C.
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THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS
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NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.
Supported by the South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Task Force, U.S. Department of the Interior, under assistance of Cooperative Agreement No. 5280-9-9029. The views and conclusions contained in this document are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the official policies, either expressed or implied, of the U.S. Government.
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THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES
Advisers to the Nation on Science, Engineering, and Medicine
The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self-perpetuating society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. Upon the authority of the charter granted to it by the Congress in 1863, the Academy has a mandate that requires it to advise the federal government on scientific and technical matters. Dr. Bruce M.Alberts is president of the National Academy of Sciences.
The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964, under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, as a parallel organization of outstanding engineers. It is autonomous in its administration and in the selection of its members, sharing with the National Academy of Sciences the responsibility for advising the federal government. The National Academy of Engineering also sponsors engineering programs aimed at meeting national needs, encourages education and research, and recognizes the superior achievements of engineers. Dr. Wm.A.Wulf is president of the National Academy of Engineering.
The Institute of Medicine was established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences to secure the services of eminent members of appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. The Institute acts under the responsibility given to the National Academy of Sciences by its congressional charter to be an adviser to the federal government and, upon its own initiative, to identify issues of medical care, research, and education. Dr. Harvey V.Fineberg is president of the Institute of Medicine.
The National Research Council was organized by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy’s purposes of furthering knowledge and advising the federal government. Functioning in accordance with general policies determined by the Academy, the Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in providing services to the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. The Council is administered jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Bruce M.Alberts and Dr. Wm. A.Wulf are chair and vice chair, respectively, of the National Research Council
JEAN M.BAHR3, Chair,
University of Wisconsin, Madison
SCOTT W.NIXON, Vice-Chair,
University of Rhode Island, Narragansett
JOHN S.ADAMS,
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis
LINDA K.BLUM,
University of Virginia, Charlottesville
PATRICK L.BREZONIK3,
University of Minnesota, St. Paul
FRANK W.DAVIS,
University of California, Santa Barbara
WAYNE C.HUBER,
Oregon State University, Corvallis
STEPHEN R.HUMPHREY,
University of Florida, Gainesville
DANIEL P.LOUCKS,
Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
KENNETH W.POTTER,
University of Wisconsin, Madison
LARRY ROBINSON,
Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, Tallahassee
REBECCA R.SHARITZ3,
Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, Aiken, South Carolina, and University of Georgia, Athens
HENRY J.VAUX, JR.,
University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Oakland
JOHN VECCHIOLI3,
U.S. Geological Survey (ret.), Odessa, Florida
JEFFREY R.WALTERS3,
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg
Consultants to the Committee
THOMAS MORRIS3,
Las Vegas Valley Water District, Nevada
MARYLYNN V.YATES3,
University of California, Riverside
MICHAEL C.NEWMAN3,
Virginia Institute of Marine Science, Gloucester Point
NRC Staff
STEPHEN D.PARKER, Director,
Water Science and Technology Board
DAVID J.POLICANSKY, Associate Director,
Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology
WILLIAM S.LOGAN3, Senior Staff Officer,
Water Science and Technology Board
PATRICIA JONES KERSHAW, Staff Associate,
Water Science and Technology Board
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1 |
The activities of the Committee on Restoration of the Greater Everglades Ecosystem (CROGEE) are overseen and supported by the NRC’s Water Science and Technology Board (lead) and Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology (see Appendix B). |
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2 |
For a list of acronyms, see Appendix D. |
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3 |
A subgroup consisting of CROGEE members Patrick Brezonik, Rebecca Sharitz, John Vecchioli, Jeffrey Walters, plus consultants Thomas Morris, Marylynn Yates, and Michael Newman, and CROGEE chair Jean Bahr, with support by NRC senior staff officer Will Logan, took the lead in drafting the report. |
Preface
This report is a product of the Committee on Restoration of the Greater Everglades Ecosystem (CROGEE), which provides consensus advice to the South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Task Force (“Task Force"). The Task Force was established in 1993 and was codified in the 1996 Water Resources Development Act (WRDA); its responsibilities include the development of a comprehensive plan for restoring, preserving and protecting the south Florida ecosystem, and the coordination of related research. The CROGEE works under the auspices of the Water Science and Technology Board and the Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology of the National Research Council (NRC).
The CROGEE’s mandate includes providing the Task Force not only with scientific overview and technical assessment of the restoration activities and plans, but also to provide focused advice on technical topics of importance to the restoration efforts. The first of these items, approved by the Task Force in May 2000, was Aquifer Storage and Recovery. The workplan item noted that:
Aquifer storage and recovery (ASR) is a key component of the Comprehensive [Everglades Restoration] Plan [CERP]. It is important that aspects of this technology, including water quality and its feasibility at the large scales being planned, be understood as soon as possible. Thus the CROGEE proposes that very high priority be given to the task of understanding and analyzing the ASR pilot projects and in addition, to incorporating the pilot test results into an ongoing assessment of regional impacts of the large scale ASR operations…Much of the value of adaptive management comes from designing pilot and other projects to maximize opportunities for learning. This is especially true for a large-scale project like ASR, where it is important to design (local) pilot projects that will allow inferences about injection, storage, and recovery aspects and impacts on water quality expected for the full project over the south Florida region.”
On October 19, 2000, a workshop on the pilot projects and related plans for ASR in the Lake Okeechobee and Western Hillsboro areas was held by the CROGEE in Miami, Florida. The workshop was open to the public and was attended by about 60 people including personnel from the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), federal, state and local agencies, universities, consulting firms, and environmental organizations. There were 10 invited experts from government, academia and the private sector, and eight members of the CROGEE present. A report was subsequently published, titled Aquifer
Storage and Recovery in the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan: A Critique of the Pilot Projects and Related Plans for ASR in the Lake Okeechobee and Western Hillsboro Areas (NRC, 2001).
Shortly before the workshop, CERP planners extracted much of the proposed work on regional analysis of the subsurface from the Lake Okeechobee and Western Hillsboro pilot projects and reorganized it into a proposed Aquifer Storage and Recovery Regional Study. The NRC (2001) report commended this proposal, and recommended various elements for such a study. Much of the proposed work on geochemistry, water quality, and ecotoxicology was also added to this study. A fourth draft of the project management plan for the ASR regional study (http://www.evergladesplan.org/pm/mgmtplns.shtml) was prepared by the USACE and the SFWMD in May 2002, and the Task Force requested that the CROGEE conduct a technical review of this document. Specifically, this review examines the adequacy of the proposed scientific methods to address key issues raised in the CROGEE February 2001 report and other issues previously raised by the ASR Issue Team of the South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Task Force Working Group in their 1999 report. Our conclusions and recommendations are based primarily on the collective experience and knowledge of the authors.
In addition to the CROGEE members who took the lead in drafting this report, I would also like to particularly thank three consultants to the committee, Tom Morris, Marylynn Yates, and Michael Newman, who graciously provided their time and expertise to this effort. We are also grateful for the assistance of Ronnie Best (U.S. Geological Survey), co-chair of the Science Coordination Team; Peter Ortner (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Working Group liaison to CROGEE; Terrence “Rock” Salt and Kevin Burger, Executive Director and Deputy Executive Director of the South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Task Force; and Glenn Landers (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers) and Peter Kwiatkowski (South Florida Water Management District), Project Managers for the Aquifer Storage and Recovery Regional Study.
This report has been reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise, in accordance with procedures approved by the NRC’s Report Review Committee. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the institution in making its published report as sound as possible and to ensure that the report meets institutional standards for objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process.
We wish to thank the following individuals for their review of this report:
Charles Haas, Drexel University
Mark Sandheinrich, University of Wisconsin, LaCrosse
Zhuping Sheng, Texas Agricultural and Mechanical University, El Paso
Amelia Ward, University of Alabama
Carol Wicks, University of Missouri, Columbia
Although the reviewers listed above have provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the conclusions or recommendations nor did they see the final draft of the report before its release. The review of this report was overseen by George Hornberger, University of Virginia. Appointed by the National Research Council, Dr. Hornberger was responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this report
was carried out in accordance with institutional procedures and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content of this report rests entirely with the authoring committee and the institution.
Jean M.Bahr, Chair
Committee on Restoration of the Greater Everglades Ecosystem
