POINT OF VIEW
The Palm Beach Post
May 26, 2018

Restore wetlands, natural shorelines to reduce threat

Thank you for your recent editorial requesting funding from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to update the South Florida Water Management District’s aged flood-control system. (“Aging flood-control systems can’t protect South Florida from sea-level rise,” May 7)

I agree with your premise, but I think it is important for people living here in South Florida to understand that there are no engineering solutions that will protect us completely from sea-level rise.

We need instead to restore the Everglades, and protect and restore wetlands as well as natural shorelines. We can also make sure our sewer systems have protection so that increasing water tables during storms will not force flooding up into our houses. Septic tanks may also be impacted by rising water tables.

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We must accept that the drainage system that we have had in place for the past several decades may ultimately fail because it is based on the notion that sea level is downhill from the canal system, meaning all water pumped into canals will flow out to sea over time. This, in combination with storm surge, could put canal levels lower than the ocean. With incoming storm surge, the ocean could travel inland.

Engineering adjustments cannot change this fact. You cannot out-pump the ocean.

Because South Florida has an extremely porous land surface, berms and dikes such as work in the Netherlands will not work here. The ocean will push up under the dikes or around them. The expense of trying to build such a system would be a waste of money.

We can also not build sea walls to stop storm surge. The ocean will push up underneath these structures. They also provide a false sense of security. Natural shorelines with native plants such as mangroves that hold the soil provide a much better solution. Unfortunately, Florida continues to permit destruction of natural shorelines.

Florida also continues to permit building on the seaward side of the Coastal Construction Line (CCL). This means buildings are being built today that could be in the ocean during storm surge and high tide. This increases homeowner’s insurance policies and the cost of flood insurance.

The solution is to restore the Everglades in Central and South Florida so that fresh stormwater can be pumped to the center of the state, not into the ocean. Extensive treatment areas would be required to clean this water so it could flow south without damaging the sensitive Everglades National Park with too-high nutrient levels.

The influx of fresh water would raise the land levels in the center of the state as it hydrates the muck soils. Once clean this water would then flow downhill to Florida Bay as it did historically. This would raise the water table of fresh water that would act as a barrier to sea level rise. If canals did not exit to the ocean they could not be a conduit for sea water to flow inland. This is a new way of thinking that will require a new set of rules.

The second thing we need to do is stop building on open space and wetlands west of the coastal ridge. There are plenty of areas for infill, but we must protect the remaining ag and preserve areas.

These actions can protect us from storm surge and flooding when our existing canal system begins to fail.

DREW MARTIN, LAKE WORTH

Editor’s note: Drew Martin is conservation chair of the Loxahatcheee Group of the Sierra Club.