Alafia River Minimum Flows and Levels - Southwest Florida Water ...

Water Resources Act of 1972, minimum flows are defined as “the minimum flow
for a given watercourse shall be the limit at which further withdrawals would be
significantly harmful to the water resources or ecology of the area” (Section
373.042 F.S.). A minimum level is defined as “the level of groundwater in an
aquifer and the level of surface water at which further withdrawals would be
significantly harmful to the water resources of the area.” Statutes provide that
MFLs shall be calculated using the best available information.
The process of analyzing minimum flows and levels for the Alafia and Myakka rivers is
built upon the analyses previously performed on the Upper Peace River (SWFWMD
2002), peer reviewed by Gore et al. (2002), and more recently, on the Middle Peace River
(SWFWMD, 2005a), peer reviewed by Shaw et al. (2005). The Alafia and Myakka MFL
methodologies incorporate many of the recommendations of these earlier peer reviews, as
well as key improvements developed by District staff. Establishment of minimum flows
and levels generally is designed to define thresholds at which further withdrawals would
produce significant harm to existing water resources and ecological conditions if these
thresholds were exceeded in the future.
This review follows the organization of the Charge to the Peer Review Panel and the
structure of the draft report. It is the job of the Peer Review Panel to assess the strengths
and weaknesses of the overall approach, its conclusions, and recommendations. This
review is provided to the District with our encouragement to continue to enhance the
scientific basis that is firmly established for the decision-making process by the
SWFWMD. Combined comments and recommendations are given for the basic approach
for analyzing and setting MFLs in both rivers, followed by separate comments on aspects
unique to each river; i.e., approaches for setting MFLs for springs in the Alafia River and
for dealing with agricultural flow augmentation that occurs in the Myakka River.
Extensive editorial comments and suggestions to improve the draft reports on the Alafia
and Myakka rivers are provided in the Appendices.
1.0 THE CHARGE
The charge to the Peer Review Panel contains five basic requirements:
1. Review the District’s draft documents used to develop provisional minimum
levels and flows for the Alafia and Myakka rivers.
2. Review documents and other materials supporting the concepts and data
presented in the draft document.
3. Participate in an open (public) meeting at the District’s Tampa Service Office
for the purpose of discussing directly all issues and concerns regarding the
draft report with a goal of developing this report.
4. Provide to the District a written report that includes a review of the data,
Appendix A V