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Agenda 05/14/2019 Item # 5B (Presentation - Miccosukee/Seminole Tribes)05/14/2019 COLLIER COUNTY Board of County Commissioners Item Number: 5.B Item Summary: Presentation on water quality issues facing Southwest Florida from the perspectives of the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians and the Seminole Tribe of Florida. To be presented by Truman (Gene) Duncan, Jr. representing the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians and Amos Tiger representing the Seminole Tribe of Florida. (Commissioner Taylor’s request) Meeting Date: 05/14/2019 Prepared by: Title: Executive Secretary to County Manager – County Manager's Office Name: MaryJo Brock 04/25/2019 2:11 PM Submitted by: Title: County Manager – County Manager's Office Name: Leo E. Ochs 04/25/2019 2:11 PM Approved By: Review: Communication and Customer Relations Mike Sheffield Additional Reviewer Completed 04/25/2019 2:54 PM County Manager's Office Nick Casalanguida County Manager Review Completed 05/07/2019 4:17 PM Board of County Commissioners MaryJo Brock Meeting Pending 05/14/2019 9:00 AM 5.B Packet Pg. 31 Presented to: Board of Collier County Commissioners 5.B.a Packet Pg. 32 Attachment: Collier County Commissioners (8782 : Presentation Seminole Tribe of Florida) Treatment As a State: December 1994 WQS Adopted: December 1997 EPA Approved : May 1999 First in the Nation to Adopt Numeric Criterion for Total Phosphorous 5.B.a Packet Pg. 33 Attachment: Collier County Commissioners (8782 : Presentation Seminole Tribe of Florida) WQ Compliance Sites 5.B.a Packet Pg. 34 Attachment: Collier County Commissioners (8782 : Presentation Seminole Tribe of Florida) 5.B.a Packet Pg. 35 Attachment: Collier County Commissioners (8782 : Presentation Seminole Tribe of Florida) 2018 South Florida Environmental Report 2 ppb TP in Marsh Interior 850 ppb TP Near Canal Sites 5.B.a Packet Pg. 36 Attachment: Collier County Commissioners (8782 : Presentation Seminole Tribe of Florida) 1988 Everglades Lawsuit resulted in the following solutions: 5.B.a Packet Pg. 37 Attachment: Collier County Commissioners (8782 : Presentation Seminole Tribe of Florida) HOW Could We Have Such Differing Viewpoints on Water Quality in WCA-3A ? 5.B.a Packet Pg. 38 Attachment: Collier County Commissioners (8782 : Presentation Seminole Tribe of Florida) SFWMD Sampling Sites (Includes S-140 & S-190) SFWMD WQ Compliance Sites (Does NOT Include S-140 & S-190) ? SFWMD DISCONTINUED Sampling 5.B.a Packet Pg. 39 Attachment: Collier County Commissioners (8782 : Presentation Seminole Tribe of Florida) Google Earth: Pollution is visible from SPACE ! 5.B.a Packet Pg. 40 Attachment: Collier County Commissioners (8782 : Presentation Seminole Tribe of Florida) 5.B.a Packet Pg. 41 Attachment: Collier County Commissioners (8782 : Presentation Seminole Tribe of Florida) 5.B.a Packet Pg. 42 Attachment: Collier County Commissioners (8782 : Presentation Seminole Tribe of Florida) 5.B.a Packet Pg. 43 Attachment: Collier County Commissioners (8782 : Presentation Seminole Tribe of Florida) 5.B.a Packet Pg. 44 Attachment: Collier County Commissioners (8782 : Presentation Seminole Tribe of Florida) 5.B.a Packet Pg. 45 Attachment: Collier County Commissioners (8782 : Presentation Seminole Tribe of Florida) 5.B.a Packet Pg. 46 Attachment: Collier County Commissioners (8782 : Presentation Seminole Tribe of Florida) 5.B.a Packet Pg. 47 Attachment: Collier County Commissioners (8782 : Presentation Seminole Tribe of Florida) 5.B.a Packet Pg. 48 Attachment: Collier County Commissioners (8782 : Presentation Seminole Tribe of Florida) EAA Reservoir IMPACTS to WCA 3A Results in 43% Increase in Flow & 36% Increase in Phosphorous Load ! 5.B.a Packet Pg. 49 Attachment: Collier County Commissioners (8782 : Presentation Seminole Tribe of Florida) Seminole Tribe of Florida Presentat ion to Collier County May 14, 2019 Amos Tiger, Chairman Seminole Tribe of Florida Wa ter Commission 5.B.b Packet Pg. 50 Attachment: Seminole Tribe of Florida 5.14.19 (8782 : Presentation Seminole Tribe of Florida) Seminole Tribe of Florida —The Seminole Tribe today has 5 Reservations in Florida with over 90,000 acres of land. o Big Cypress o Brighton o Immokalee o Hollywood o Ta mpa —The Seminole Tribe also has Trust lands in 3 other areas of Florida. o Coconut Creek o Fort Pierce o Lakeland o These areas are home to approximately 3,600 Seminole Tr ibe members. Lakeland 5.B.b Packet Pg. 51 Attachment: Seminole Tribe of Florida 5.14.19 (8782 : Presentation Seminole Tribe of Florida) Stormwater Tr eatment Areas (STA) and Reservoirs Seminole Tribe of Florida STAs and Reservoirs can reduce Phosphorus However: Wa ter quality is more than just Phosphorus 5.B.b Packet Pg. 52 Attachment: Seminole Tribe of Florida 5.14.19 (8782 : Presentation Seminole Tribe of Florida) Background: Heavy summer rains formed Florida’s natural environment Po llutants from lands impacted from human activities enter ditches and canals The ditches and canals in Florida: •Changed how natural waters flow •Move water away from places where plants and animals need it •Can carry polluted water far away from where it came from •Rapidly transports these polluted waters to the Everglades, and our estuaries and nearshore waters 5.B.b Packet Pg. 53 Attachment: Seminole Tribe of Florida 5.14.19 (8782 : Presentation Seminole Tribe of Florida) STAs “Everg lades Success Story ”? STAs are constructed wetlands to treat polluted waters. STAs hold water in shallow levels, and use plants to absorb phosphorus, or for phosphorus to settle out of the water to the ground (sediment). Water is released from the STAs with lower levels of phosphorus. According to the SFWMD1, 57,000 acres of STAs have removed 2,329 metric tons of phosphorus from entering the Everglades at a cost of $1.8 billion. According to the SFWMD1 Best Management Practices removed 3,058 metric tons of phosphorus from entering the Everglades. What else do STAs do or don’t do? 1 https://www.sfwmd.gov/sites/default/files/documents/infographic_everglades_wq.pdf 5.B.b Packet Pg. 54 Attachment: Seminole Tribe of Florida 5.14.19 (8782 : Presentation Seminole Tribe of Florida) (Sunshine State News, 2019) Identifying the Appropriate Physical and Biological Property Requirements of a Wetland System: Marsh Wetland System (ie. typical STA habitat) VS Forested Wetland System (ie. focused habitat for restoration on Tribal lands) 5.B.b Packet Pg. 55 Attachment: Seminole Tribe of Florida 5.14.19 (8782 : Presentation Seminole Tribe of Florida) STAs the negative: •Mix agricultural and other human impacted water runoff from many different areas with water in natural conditions •Don’t remove pesticides, metals, viruses, bacteria, salts, sulfates, or other nutrients like Nitrogen and Potassium from water •When water leaves STAs, phosphorus levels are lower, but other pollutant levels aren’t changed, or may increase… 5.B.b Packet Pg. 56 Attachment: Seminole Tribe of Florida 5.14.19 (8782 : Presentation Seminole Tribe of Florida) STAs the negative continued: •Don’t have a variety or abundance of different plants living in them •Can’t support aquatic flora or fauna species which are sensitive to pollution •Hold pollutants in their sediments •Species which live in the sediments consume the pollutants from the sediments and go up the food chain 5.B.b Packet Pg. 57 Attachment: Seminole Tribe of Florida 5.14.19 (8782 : Presentation Seminole Tribe of Florida) Seminole Tribe of Florida Data Collection: •Completed three studies: ØAquatic Biodiversity Study ØTissue Study ØSediment Study 5.B.b Packet Pg. 58 Attachment: Seminole Tribe of Florida 5.14.19 (8782 : Presentation Seminole Tribe of Florida) Seminole Tribe of Florida Studies: Aquatic Diversity Sampled aquatic diversity in water coming into Big Cypress Reservation from an STA. Aquatic Diversity measures the health and balance of flora and fauna living in water. For example: •Are there lots of different things living in it, or just a few types of things? •For the different types of things that are living in it, are there lots of individuals representing each type, or only a few individuals representing each type? •Are the things that that are living in the water column native or exotic? •Are the things that are living in the water column tolerant of pollution or sensitive to pollution? 5.B.b Packet Pg. 59 Attachment: Seminole Tribe of Florida 5.14.19 (8782 : Presentation Seminole Tribe of Florida) Seminole Tribe of Florida Studies: Aquatic Diversity continued… The Aquatic Diversity Study results for STA water source found: •Had the most algae and the algae types were the most “nutrient tolerant ” •Wa s the least similar to any water in BC •Had the most amount of fish than any BC site, but were the least balanced of any BC site, and had the most amount of exotic fish species •Had the least amount of macroinvertebrates in the sediment, the lowest diversity score, the least amount of different species, and the dominant species were exotic clams which displace native freshwater mussel species •*Overall diversity scores rated the water as “impaired”* 5.B.b Packet Pg. 60 Attachment: Seminole Tribe of Florida 5.14.19 (8782 : Presentation Seminole Tribe of Florida) Seminole Tribe of Florida: Tissue Study Fish and other animal tissues from canals traveling through Seminole Tribe Reservations north and south of Lake Okeechobee include levels of pollutants such as: •Flame retardants •Blood pressure medicine •DEET •Chemicals from teflon coatings •PCBs •Dioxin •Mercury •At razine (herbicide used on sugar cane and turf grass) •Arsenic •DDT breakdown compounds •Hydrocarbons 5.B.b Packet Pg. 61 Attachment: Seminole Tribe of Florida 5.14.19 (8782 : Presentation Seminole Tribe of Florida) Seminole Tribe of Florida Studies: Sediment A follow-up study of canal sediments north and south of Lake Okeechobee showed the same compounds in the canal sediments that were found in fish and other species tissues. Canal sediments are home to the beginning of the food chain. Levels of the following pollutants were found in the sediments of canals that flow through Big Cypress and Brighton that exceed one or more guideline (sediment quality assessment guideline for human health, or are toxic to aquatic species): •Arsenic •Cadmium •Copper •Mercury STAs don’t treat water for pollutants in the sediment •DDT and breakdown products •Hydrocarbons •PCBs •Dioxin 5.B.b Packet Pg. 62 Attachment: Seminole Tribe of Florida 5.14.19 (8782 : Presentation Seminole Tribe of Florida) In Conclusion: Wa ter quality in Florida is not limited to phosphorus levels STAs are designed only for phosphorus STAs don’t treat all forms of water quality concerns STAs can’t solve the whole phosphorus problem. •For example, in 2014, the State of Florida released a Draft Action Plan to have Lake Okeechobee meet its phosphorus maximum daily load. •The maximum phosphorus load for Lake Okeechobee is 105 metric tons per year. •The existing load is 448.3 metric tons per year. •If the State of Florida implemented every one of the projects in the Taylor Creek, Nubbins Slough, Lake Istokpoga, Lower Kissimmee, Indian Prairie, and Fisheating Creekwatersheds releasing water to Lake Okeechobee (including STAs, detention, “water farming ”, etc), the total estimated phosphorus removal is @ 152 metric tons. •This leaves the State of Florida still needing to remove 194 more metric tons to meet their goal. 5.B.b Packet Pg. 63 Attachment: Seminole Tribe of Florida 5.14.19 (8782 : Presentation Seminole Tribe of Florida) In Conclusion: What the Tribe believes: •Reservoirs and STAs north of Lake Okeechobee will provide very little benefit to clean up polluted waters going into Lake Okeechobee. •The Tribe emphasizes the need to utilize historical knowledge in planning for water management activities. •Tr ibe supports the creation of larger reservoirs south of Lake Okeechobee in conjunction with natural polishing areas and the EAA Reservoir project.1849 Military Map (usf.edu, 2019) 5.B.b Packet Pg. 64 Attachment: Seminole Tribe of Florida 5.14.19 (8782 : Presentation Seminole Tribe of Florida) Questions? 5.B.b Packet Pg. 65 Attachment: Seminole Tribe of Florida 5.14.19 (8782 : Presentation Seminole Tribe of Florida)