Minimum Flows and Levels for the Peace River

1. Minimum Flows and Levels for the Peace River FLOW 2008 October, 2008 Marty Kelly http://www.swfwmd.state.fl.us/projects/mfl/

2. The Issues that Led to the Instream flows Process/Studies

4. The Policy Context Minimum Flows and Levels- Florida Statutes, Section 373.042 - 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

5. The Science Done

6. Flow Regime – Building Block Approach • Benchmark Period • Multiple MFLs - address seasonality • Percent of Flow Reduction Technique • Significant Harm - 15% reduction in available habitat Flow Regime gone Bad

7. Minimum Flows and Levels • Components of an MFL (from Beecher 1990) • a goal – (e.g., non-degradation or, for the District’s purpose, protection from significant harm • identification of resources of interest to be protected • a unit of measure (e.g., flow in cfs, habitat in useable area, etc.) • a benchmark period, and • a protection standard statistic.

8. Two Benchmark Periods Blame it on Hal………………

9. 15% In their peer review report on the Upper Peace River, Gore et al. (2002) stated, “in general, instream flow analysts consider a loss of more than 15% habitat, as compared to undisturbed or current conditions, to be a significant impact on that population or assemblage."

10. Low Flow Threshold - Wetted Perimeter Used for All Blocks

11. Low Flow Threshold -Fish Passage Used for All Blocks

12. Physical Habitat Simulation System Used for Blocks 1 and 2 • Depth •Velocity •Substrate

13. Long-Term Inundation Analysis Used for Blocks 2 and 3 Floodplain Exposed Roots Snags

14. The PreliminaryResultsFlow Prescription – Percent of Flow and Seasonality (middle Peace River at Arcadia)

15. Dynamic - Salinity Stationary Stationary vs. Dynamic Habitat

16. Establishment of an MFL requires identification of a critical biologically-relevant variable that can be defensibly and quantitatively related to variation in freshwater flows. • The volume of water in the system less than a given salinity – e.g. available fish habitat in given salinity zone • The bottom area in the system less than a given salinity – e.g. benthic invertebrate habitat • The shoreline length in the system less than a given salinity – e.g. amount of shoreline vegetation

17. Analytical Tools “Modelers are people who like to play with numbers, but don’t have the personality to become engineers.” – Jimmy Carter

18. Based on Combined Flows of Horse, Joshua and Arcadia Gages LFT = 90 cfs

19. The Public Dialogue • MFL Priority List and Schedule – Annual Update • Proposed MFL – Report for Peer Review and Public Dissemination • Public Meetings • Waterbody Advocates and TAC’s and NEP’s • Peer Review Report • Staff Response • (Recovery Strategy) $$$$$ • Rule Development • Rule Adoption • The Role of the Governing Board

20. Recommendations for Others /Lessons Learned • Legislative mandate has greatly facilitated process • ad valorem taxing authority of WMDs • Peer review process • Recovery

21. Recovery Strategies Peace River by P. Metz - USGS

22. Questions Photo: Richard Gant – Silver River 2007 Florida photographic collection