Great white egret plies the Everglades | Credit: FloridaStock - Shutterstock

Advocates of Everglades restoration might have felt as if they won the Florida lottery Thursday.

First, they wake up to $100 million from the USDA to help with wetlands restoration in the northern Everglades watershed.

Then they learn at a South Florida Water Management District meeting later in the morning that the source controls south of Lake Okeechobee are working up a storm. According to the SFWMD, the farmers in the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) south of Lake Okeechobee “achieved a record-setting 79 percent phosphorus reduction in the water leaving the farming region.”

It was like winning a jackpot.

THE SUCCESS IN REDUCING PHOSPHORUS

This year represents the 16th consecutive year that phosphorus reductions in the 470,000-acre EAA farming region are significantly better than the 25 percent reduction required by law.

How good is a 79 percent phosphorous reduction? Explained Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, it means that by implementing improved farming techniques known as Best Management Practices, farmers actually have scrubbed their own "used" water cleaner than the water in Lake Okeechobee.

Pamela Wade was first at the Thursday board meeting to praise farmers for their achievement. Wade, who is chief of the Everglades Regulation Bureau, presented the annual-update powerpoint presentation to the Water Management District board. "Growers have done an outstanding job to exceed the reductions required in the [EAA] basin," she said.

Throughout Thursday, appreciation for the growers' effort and results was effusive.

"Improving water quality is a key component in the ongoing effort to restore and improve South Florida's ecosystems," Board Chairman Joe Collins said in a written statement. "This is an important commitment made by our region's agricultural community to help in achieving meaningful phosphorous reductions that will benefit the Everglades."

The District explains that in the EAA, the most commonly used BMPs against phosphorus are "more precise fertilizer application methods, refined stormwater pumping practices and erosion controls."

SFWMD scientists expressed their praise primarily by doing the numbers. According to the District press release, "When measured in actual mass, 173.6 metric tons of phosphorus were prevented from entering the regional canal system, which sends water into the Everglades, during the 2011 monitoring period. Over the past 16 years, the BMP program has prevented 2,411 metric tons of phosphorus from leaving the EAA."

Said Putnam, "I applaud the ongoing efforts of growers and ranchers in the EAA, and am committed to the long-term investment in Best Management Practices in the EAA and throughout Florida."

Barbara Miedema, vice president of the Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative and a member of Gov. Rick Scott's transition team on water, took the long view. "When the BMP program was first envisioned in 1991, no one imagined it would be this effective over the long term," she said. "It's an example of the kind of success that can be achieved in partnership with scientists and farmers who roll up their sleeves to get the job done."

Gaston Cantens, vice president of Florida Crystals Corp., asked why anybody would be surprised at the farmers' achievements. "They've done it for years," he said. "The sugar industry, the other farmers, we've all supported the Everglades Forever Act from the beginning. Think about it ... We've averaged a 55 percent phosphorus reduction rate for the last 16 years. That takes a lot of effort, and a lot of good people wanting good things to happen to get a result like that."