Manasota Basin Board Information and Budget Notebook Wednesday, February 11, 2009 9 a.m. Braden River Sarasota Service Office 6750 Fruitville Road Sarasota, Florida 34240 (941) 377-3722 MANASOTA BASIN BOARD Albert G. Joerger, Co-Chair Ex Officio Patricia M. Glass, Co-Chair Ex Officio Frank E. Strelec, Vice Chair J. Mac Carraway, Secretary Elizabeth "Betsy" O. Benac, Member Dora Maria C. Thomas, Member Paul J. "Jack" Bispham, Member Michael P. McCoy, Member Designate Committee Members Basin Board Land Resources Committee Frank Strelec - primary Dora Thomas - alternate Basin Board Education Committee Mac Carraway - primary Betsy Benac - alternate Sarasota Bay Estuary Program Policy Board Jack Bispham AGENDA MANASOTA BASIN BOARD MEETING Sarasota, FL February 11, 2009 9 a.m. Item Presenter 1. Call to Order and Roll Call Albert Joerger/Phyllis Young 2. Pledge of Allegiance to the American Flag Albert Joerger 3. Additions and Deletions to the Agenda Lou Kavouras 4. Ceremony to Honor Former Co-Chair Ex Officio Tom Dabney Frank Strelec 5. Oath of Office for Newly Appointed/Re-Appointed Board Members Phyllis Young 6. Consent Items: a. Minutes of the October 15, 2008, Meeting and Workshop [Exhibit 1] Lou Kavouras b. Facilitating Agricultural Resource Management Systems (FARMS) – Eric DeHaven ESDA, Inc. (H511), Manatee County [Exhibit 2] 7. Discussion Items: a. Legislative Update Terri Behling b. Fiscal Year (FY) 2010 Cooperative Funding Initiative (CFI) Dianne Davies Requests [See Exhibits behind the FY2010 CFI Applications Tab] 8 Reports: a. Basin Board Education Committee [Exhibit 3] Mac Carraway b. Basin Board Land Resources Committee Eric Sutton c. Sarasota Bay Estuary Program Policy Board Jack Bispham d Governing Board Activities Co-Chairs Joerger and Glass 9. Announcements: Lou Kavouras a. Children's Museum Groundbreaking Ceremony: Tampa; date and time to be determined b. Joint meeting of the Basin Board Education and Basin Board Land Resources Committees: Monday, March 16, 2009, Polk's Nature Discovery Center, Lakeland c. FY2009 Basin Board Meetings: April 15, June 10, July 15 (if necessary), and August 12. All meetings are held on Wednesdays and begin at 9 a.m. in the Sarasota Service Office. d. Other 10. Adjournment Albert Joerger Information Items are located at the end of the Summary Agenda. If you have questions about this meeting, please call 1-800-423-1476 or 352-796-7211, x4615. Summary Agenda MANASOTA BASIN BOARD MEETING Sarasota, Florida February 11, 2009 9 A.M. 1. Call to Order and Roll Call Presenters: Albert Joerger, Co-Chair Ex Officio Manasota Basin Board Phyllis Young, Senior Administrative Assistant Boards and Executive Services 2. Pledge of Allegiance to the American Flag Presenter: Albert Joerger 3. Additions and Deletions to the Agenda Presenter: Lou Kavouras, Deputy Executive Director Outreach, Planning and Board Services 4. Ceremony to Honor Former Co-Chair Ex Officio Tom Dabney Presenter: Frank Strelec, Vice Chair Manasota Basin Board 5. Oath of Office for Appointed/Re-Appointed Board Members Presenter: Phyllis Young 6. Consent Items: a. Minutes of the October 15, 2008, Meeting and Workshop Basin Board members were provided minutes of the October 2008 meeting and workshop for review. Staff Recommendation See Exhibit 1 Approve the October minutes, as presented. Presenter: Lou Kavouras b. Facilitating Agricultural Resource Management Systems (FARMS) – ESDA, Inc. (H511), Manatee County Purpose To request approval to modify a previously Board approved Facilitating Agricultural Resource Management Systems (FARMS) project with ESDA, Inc., and approval to reimburse FARMS eligible costs up to a not-to-exceed limit of $25,000. This project modification is necessary because of the suspension of funds originally pledged by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) due to State budget cuts. The project modification removes FDACS funding and requests the use of 2003 Summary Agenda February 11, 2009 Manasota Basin Board Page 2 of 9 State Appropriations in the amount of $25,000. Total project costs are estimated at $178,126. This project was originally approved at the February 2005 Basin Board meeting. Background/History The District's FARMS program, developed by the District and FDACS, is a public/private agricultural Best Management Practice (BMP) cost-share reimbursement program. FARMS is intended to expedite the implementation of production-scale agricultural BMPs that provide water resource benefits. Resource benefits of the FARMS Program include reduced Floridan aquifer withdrawals, water quality improvements (both from ground water and surface water sources) and/or conservation, restoration and augmentation of the area's water resources and ecology. The District's emphasis through the FARMS program is on reductions in Upper Floridan aquifer withdrawals that will improve ground water conditions as documented in the Southern Water Use Caution Area (SWUCA) recovery strategy. In addition, the District also provides funding for projects that improve water quality affected by the use of mineralized ground water as documented in the Shell and Prairie Creek Watershed Management Plan – Reasonable Assurance Documentation. Reimbursement cost-share rates are capped at 50 percent for water quantity withdrawal reductions from the Upper Floridan aquifer or water quality improvements realized from decreasing the use of mineralized ground water, and at 75 percent for both water quantity and water quality improvements. FARMS Program staff originally received a project proposal in 2004 from ESDA, Inc., for their dairy located in the Upper Myakka River Watershed, northwest of the town of Myakka City in Manatee County, within the SWUCA. The Water Use Permit for this farm authorizes an annual average groundwater withdrawal of 323,000 gallons per day (gpd) for the irrigation of 200 acres of commercial hay production and 1,640 head of dairy cattle. The goals of this project are to improve water quality and reduce ground water pumping through an expanded capture and reuse system. The project includes the construction and installation of a wastewater storage pond and a surface water runoff storage pond each equipped with an irrigation and flush water recycle pump station with an automatic water level controller. The wastewater management design consists of a waste transfer and recovery canal, sand trap, manure solids separator, and sump area. The ponds will serve two main functions. First, the recycled wastewater or captured surface water from the ponds will be used to irrigate a pasture composed of grasses and legumes, which will offset ground water pumping and reduce downstream nutrient loading through uptake by the pasture crops. Secondly, filtered wastewater and captured surface water will be conveyed to storage tanks and recycled to flush the cattle barns. A Natural Resources Conservation Service engineering analysis estimated water savings of approximately 45,000 gpd by recycling waste storage pond water to the confinement barn flush tanks. This will also reduce downstream nutrient loading impacts. This project is designed to improve onsite water quality, reduce impacts to the ecology of Flatford Swamp and reduce the use of Upper Floridan aquifer groundwater. The project was approved in Fiscal Year 2005 and became partially operational in FY2008. Benefits/Costs The District portion of the project involves primarily water quantity BMPs. Therefore, the project qualifies for a 50 percent cost-share reimbursement rate under the FARMS Program. Using an estimate of 14 percent savings of permitted quantities, or approximately 45,000 gpd, yields a daily cost of $2.51 per thousand gallons of groundwater reduced over the original five-year contract term, and $0.75 per thousand gallons of groundwater reduced over a thirty-year term. Both projected values for groundwater savings costs are within the guidelines for the generally accepted average Summary Agenda February 11, 2009 Manasota Basin Board Page 3 of 9 cost savings per thousand gallons for the implementation of alternative supplies and improved irrigation techniques for similar operations. Total project costs within the FARMS Scope of Work are estimated at $179,000. As originally approved, funding for the project reimbursement was allocated as 30 percent from State Appropriations and the remaining 70 percent split evenly between FDACS and the Manasota Basin Board. In June 2007 the funding allocations were changed when the FARMS Operating Agreement was amended and approved by the Governing Board. At that time, FDACS assumed full responsibility for funding this and two other projects, and released the District from its funding commitment. However, due to significant recent budgetary cutbacks from the Florida Legislature, FDACS is now unable to satisfy funding commitments for the final phase of this project. FY2003 State Appropriations to the Manasota Basin Board, which do not require matching Basin or Governing Board funds, will be used to fund the reimbursement to the project participant. Upon approval, the Manasota Basin Board will have $1,090,973 remaining in its FARMS program budget. Staff Recommendation: See Exhibit 2 1) Approve the ESDA, Inc., FARMS Project funding amendment for a not-to-exceed project reimbursement of $25,000, provided from 2003 State Appropriations; 2) Authorize the transfer of $25,000 from the 2003 State Appropriations allocated to Fund 021 H017 Manasota Basin to H511 ESDA, Inc., FARMS project fund; 3) Authorize the Executive Director