In 2003, the county commission agreed to move the Urban Develoment Boundary in part because the industrial focus of the planned 436 acre development would have minimal impact on the nearby Northwest Well Field that provides 2.3 million residents of Miami-Dade County with safe, affordable drinking water.
Recent development in the region of the wellfield, including houses, rock mines and Beacon Lakes, has pretty much eliminated the "safe and affordable" part, although the public is still in the dark about the reasons why.
The Northwest Well Field lies west of the turnpike and north of SR 836. It is the “sole source” drinking water supply for Miami-Dade. It is protected by a well field protection plan, adopted by the county in 1985. In 2002, Codina proposed to address threats from his development to the well field by excavating and lengthening a canal along NW 25th Street (the northern boundary of the Beacon Lakes site) to operate as a “hydrologic barrier”.
The supposed model for this “hydrologic barrier” was the Snapper Creek Extension canal, designed to remove land east of the Florida Turnpike from the “cone of influence” for the well field. Between Beacon Lakes and the West Dade wellfield are a number of rock mines that manufacture aggregate and cement from limestone.
For the proposed barrier to succeed, specific water levels must be maintained in the canal. In other words, in times of drought—if the surrounding canals fed by Lake Okeechobee and local rainfall fall too far—the barrier could fail. On the other hand, raising water levels could increase the risk of flooding in the area, putting businesses in need of additional flood protection.
During 2002, Beacon Lakes delayed responding to detailed questions by the South Florida Water Management District. But another delay was more significant.
In 2002, Miami Dade County’s Department of Environmental Regulation (DERM) initiated a contract with the nation’s foremost science agency, the United States Geological Survey (USGS), to test how fast water moves through the aquifer in the area of the Northwest Well Field.
Those results would help decision makers establish whether the wellfield protection zone, that included part of the Beacon Lakes property, was protective of public health. Not that they-- the county commission--were inclined to look very hard. (It's fine to tighten down the use of the "N" word but don't ever tighten down on what's required to protect the water you need to survive.)
The USGS test, conducted on April 22, 2003, showed that the aquifer in the area is far more porous--and susceptible to contamination-- than had been anticipated by theoretical models used to protect public health.
The troubling story was captured with a certain morbid humor by Miami New Times, “Beneath the pink underwear”.
Permitting for Beacon Lakes project went forward without the benefit of test results that required exhaustive analysis and peer review.
And so, the underlying property owned by Codina was liberated from quotidian concern of elected county commissioners whether your drinking water is protected or not.
New Times wrote, “Understandably, DERM and WASD don't want to talk much about the test. After all, these are preliminary results. Several more will follow, as well as lab analyses. In all, the study, which is being conducted by USGS, will take until 2005 to complete. Then the county can issue its three-year review on the rock-mining permits. In the meantime, DERM and WASD continue to rigorously test the wellfields for protozoa. ... beneath the jargon are a myriad of straightforward issues the county may be loath to face. The most troublesome are the models DERM has been using to protect drinking water for over one million residents in North Miami-Dade; they're not simply wrong, they're way wrong. The county has what are called "cones of influence" around the wellfields; these boundaries are determined by how quickly water can reach the well, calculated in days. County ordinance requires that there be a minimum 30-day travel time between the mines and the Northwest Wellfield. Such a long time would theoretically kill off protozoa like cryptosporidium that might enter the wells. But these travel times are based on old models. If two days' travel time now means four hours, where does that leave us?”
In Milwaukee in 1993, crpto killed several people from a massive contamination infecting 400,000 people served by municipal water supply.
Ultimately, the responsibility for protecting your drinking water rests with the county commission. But county commissioners, like Natacha Seijas and Pepe Diaz, have been reliable enablers for more development and bigger rock mines near the well field.
Who is going to pay to fix the problem, caused by the majority of the Miami Dade County Commission?
In the 2006 session of the Florida legislature, the rock mining industry sought—through Representative Rudy Garcia—to pass a midnight measure that would cap the costs the industry would be responsible for, in building a new water treatment plant.
Mayor Carlos Alvarez intervened and modified the measure, although the outcome has not been resolved.
When the county commission finally entertains Mr. Codina’s zoning change request, the Chamber will fill with residents asking for more retail to keep them from clogging Miami roadways to go to Publix or Lowes or Home Depot as the case may be. Mr. Codina’s lobbyists will proffer how the development will be the “greenest” in the county.
The county commission should reject the request to rezone Beacon Lakes until the multi-hundred million dollar water treatment facilities that are needed to protect our drinking water are funded by the interests that caused the problem in the first place. Including back-ups.
That would be unprecedented.
5 comments:
MASTERFUL!
Why didn't the Herald even mention any of this. Background sure helps. I didn't connect the pink water test with this issue. Now I see why this development is a bad idea. The old zoning was a bad idea and the new zoning Codina is asking for is an even worse idea.
why doesn't a man like Codina put all that effort and money into developing areas that need it, urban blighted areas. i'm sure he could still turn a profit. is it brownfield cleanup costs? or something equally cumbersome? probably is. This is a shame.
What the Herald should also look at, is how the State Road 836 extension serving Codina Beacon Lakes was fast-tracked past other construction projects in the schedule ... wonder how that happened? Guess.
Which two Miami-Dade County Departments are also primarily responsible for protecting our drinking water? DERM and WASD. Who was the Director of DERM when the Beacon Lakes project was originally approved, with a favorable recommendation from DERM? John Renfrow. Who is the current Director of WASD? John Renfrow. Who, I'm told, has well known and longstanding personal relationships with Codina and Codina's business associate (and former DERM employee) Rafael Rodon? John Renfrow. Feel better?
Also look at the connections bewteen Renfrow aspiring artist family members and Codina.
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