UF00083645_00020.pdf

UF00083645_00020.txt

UF00083645_00020_pdf.txt

"yous mm"--#8 From: Governhr' 3 Office
By Farris Bryant Tallahassee, Florida
Governor of Florida

CONSERVATION IN ACTION

As recently as 19h? many South Florida homeowners had the
eXperience of rowing a boat across their front yard, and wading
through their living room.

Twenty years ago seven of every 10 acres in South Florida
were continually sutmerged, and 19 or every 20 acres flooded
periodically.

The Central and Southern Florida Flood Cantrol District
has made past history of this sort or thing in Florida.

The reason you can live in what nature intended as a swamp
of a floodplain and still have a dry, comfortable home, a lush
yard and plenty of fresh, clear water from the faucet--is con-
servation.

Conservation simply means "to save" and that is the Job or
the Florida Flood Control District -- to save water. to save
land, to save property, even to save lives.

Nature's own plan for conservation in South Florida-flood,
long periods or standing water, then drought-~did not include
man.

Only a thin strip Ofooastalland, where the seas had created
a long series of sand dunes we call the coastal ridge, was high
and dry during most of the year.

The early settlers built homes along the coastal ridge and
lived comfortably, but as Florida's climate draw more and more
people the ridge became crowded and men began to move westward
into the fringe of the Everglades.

Attempts to drain and irrigate small sections of the vast
swamp seemed to work at first, but men soon found they were up-
setting the balance of nature, making the floods and droughts
3131? severe o

It was clear that man must deveIOp a contervatlon plan .-
not Just a drainage plan, for the entire region, and the Flood

Control District was created in 1939 to put into action such a

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The purpose of the plan is simple: to remove water from
the land rapidly during flood periods and store it for use
during dry seasons. But putting the plan into action was not
so simple. The normal method of storing water is to dam up a
stream, allowing the water to collect in a watershed area
behind the dam. However, in Florida, where the land is flat
and natural streams few, dams are not practical. The Flood
Control District had to create water storage areas.

They started by using Lake Okeechobee as a controlled
water storage area. Then, with earth dikes, they created three
huge reservoirs south of it.

These conservation areas, covering more area than the
state of Rhode Island, gave the District some place to put the
rainy season. An because the unwanted water has not been
dumped out to sea -- as would be done if the Project were con-
cerned only with drainage the water is available for use
during the dry months of the year.

More than 650 miles of canals have been dug to carry the
water to and from these conservation areas, and counties, cities
and groups of landowners can now lace their flood-prone land
with small, secondary canals that empty into the larger primary

canals.
The land is so flat in South Florida that the direction that

water flows is often determined by the way the wind is blowing.
So, the Flood Control District had to install huge pumps to force
water through the canals.

Eight of these giant pumps are already in Operation, with
more on the way. If necessary, they can pump 10 million gallons
of water each minute--enough to supply the daily water needs of

Miami in Just eight minutes.

The stored water is used directly by farmers for irrigation

of their fields and for protection of growing crops against

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frost damage. City dwellers use it indirectly as it seeps
back into the earth, refilling the underground water supplies
that furnish than water for drinking, bathing, cooking, lawn
watering and countless other uses. Industries can now move to
Florida with the assurance of a stable water supply.

The conservation areas also create homes for all types
of wildlife and provide a million acre fishing, hunting and
camping playground for Floridians and visitors.




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