Download Knights Farm Fields 1 and 3, 1999

Southeast District
Assessment and Monitoring Program
Ecosummary
Knights Farm Fields 1 & 3
Palm Beach County
December 1999
Summary: Irrigation of farm land in the EAA.
Knights Farm Fields 1 & 3 are now part of an STA.
Current water quality status: NON-EXISTENT.
The largest source of nutrients to the Water Conservation Areas (WCAs) originate from waters draining
the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA), which is
north and west of the WCAs. The EAA is a highly
productive agricultural area, approximately 1,122
square miles in size, comprised of muck and/or peat
soils. This area, planted with sugar cane, winter vegetables, sod, and rice is considered one of Florida’s
most important agricultural regions where year round
farming has an estimated economic impact of more
than one billion dollars a year. Knights Farm cultivated several parcels of land in the EAA.
Florida Administrative Code Rule 40E-63, established
in 1993, states that owners/operators of the private
water control structures and owners/lessees of land
served by the structures within the EAA were to apply for permits. Each permit application requires a
Best Management Practice (BMP) plan and a water
quality monitoring plan. Currently one hundred percent of the EAA regulation area are under permits.
BMPs were implemented to meet a target level of a
25% phosphorus load reduction to the EAA basin.
Stormwater Treatment Area 1 West, on the northwest
corner of Water Conservation Area 1, will help
bring higher quality fresh water to the Everglades.
In 1995 the State of Florida passed the Everglades
Forever Act to insure restoration of the Everglades
and Florida Bay. More than 40,000 acres of wetlands
will be constructed to reduce phosphorus and other
pollutants from agricultural stormwater inflows. These
marshes, known as STAs, will be planted with specific
species that act as filters to remove nutrients. Within
the life cycle of these plants, plant litter will accumulate
and become peat through a natural anareobic process.
This peat formation will trap pollutants in the sediment,
facilitating restoration. Clean water from the STAs
will then flow into the Everglades. The Everglades
Forever Act calls for the STAs to be completed and
fully operational between the years 1997 and 2003.
The areas of land formally known as Knights Farm
Fields 1 &3, located at the northwest edge of WCA1,
no longer exist as functioning farm land in the EAA.
Instead, these two parcels of land, along with others,
have been purchased by the South Florida Water
Management District (SFWMD) under the
Everglades Nutrient Removal Project (ENR) and
converted into Storm Water Treatment Area 1 West
(STA1W).
Pump station S-5A on the West Palm Beach Canal
formerly discharged stormwater from Knights Farm
Fields 1 & 3 into the north end of WCA1. Next to
rainfall, pump station S-5A was the largest source of
phosphorus loading to the WCAs, at approximately
77 metric tons per year. Previously, pump station S5A directed agricultural drainage from over 194 square
miles of EAA directly into WCA 1. This agricultural
runoff is now primarily discharged into STA1W where
it is treated. This was accomplished by redirecting
the L-40 Canal and L-7 Borrow Canal to STA1W.
Thus, Knights Farm Fields 1 & 3 which were formerly
a pollution source are now part of a pollution
abatement system. Other Knights Farm Fields still
exist and are actively farmed, but these no longer
have a direct discharge to WCA 1.
Pump Station S-5A, at the northwestern tip of WCA1
S-5A used to discharge into WCA1, but is now
redirected into STA1W.
RECOMMENDATION: Knights Farm Fields 1&3
is currently on the 303d list due to elevated
nutrients. However, this analysis indicates that
the waterbody should be removed from the list.
For more information: Contact the Southeast
District Surface Water Quality section in Port St.
Lucie at 561/398-2806, or by email:
[email protected]