Bioregionalism: Watershed Planning and Community Design

by Daniel Williams, AIA

	'The earth belongs to the living. No man may by natural right oblige the lands he owns or occupies, or those that succeed him In that occupation, to debts greater than those that may be paid during his own lifetime. Because if he could, then the world would belong to the dead and not to the living." Thomas Jefferson
	What if drinking water were more expensive than gasoline and tasted as foul? A few years ago that question was posed to residents of New York City after federal regulators delivered a chilling ultimatum: clean up the region's 2,000 square-mile watershed and reservoir system by 1997 or build a state-of-the-art filtration plant to purify its drinking water. The cost: a staggering $59 billion--$51,000 for every man, woman and child utilizing the system--plus an additional $300 million per year in operating expenses.
...we are left with tough choices...	As officials in New York scramble to meet that deadline, fighting to reverse years of neglect and inadequate planning, a similar tide of concern is rising in South Florida. Our regional water supply, long regarded as a nuisance and a hindrance to growth, remains a forgotten casualty of humanity's ongoing battle with the natural environment. Our surface water is polluted, diverted, and prematurely flushed to tide; our groundwater, endlessly tapped by the region's exploding population base, is being contaminated by encroaching urban impervious surfaces. Like New York City, we are left with tough choices: nurse our public watershed back to life or spend billions for a desalinization plant that produces flat tasting water at roughly five times the cost of current methods.
	For decades, South Floridians have been lulled by a false perception of unlimited natural water resources. Their apparent abundance, combined with the seemingly limitless abilities of technology, was seen as a sufficient control to the consequences of boundless growth. When an environmental problem arose, a technological solution was sought.
More than half of the historic Everglades has been lost to urban and agricultural development.	Indeed, much of South Florida's designed environment is the product of technological initiative. Historically, only small humps of high ground--our so-called "coastal ridge" near Biscayne Bay--supported the needs of human development. These areas drained quicker during wet periods and provided easy access to abundant supplies of clean water for agricultural and residential use. But with the insatiable demand for new land along our western and southern frontiers, a complex network of drainage canals--more than 1,500 miles in all--was installed to "reclaim" Everglades wetland for human use. Today, more than half of the historic Everglades has been lost to urban and agricultural development. The draining of this area, while necessary to foster economic growth, now carries a huge cost which promises to get much greater if significant steps are not taken now.

	The impact on our natural environment is well documented. By routing surface water away from its natural course, our regional ecosystem has been indelibly altered. Consider the evidence: the enormous decline in wading birds and the threatened extinction of many plant and animal species, the suffocating algae blooms in Florida Bay, the deterioration of coral reefs, and the decline of commercial fish stocks throughout the region. These changes, of course, pose very real threats to our tourism and fishing industries, a very large component of our economic base.
Water that we need to recharge our underground supplies is now considered an annoying flood risk.	Other consequences of change are less obvious. By tinkering with the delicate interaction of land and water, we have impaired the self-regulating functions of our hydrologic system. Before the network of canals were built and before much of the land was paved over for urban uses, seasonal rains spread across the landscape, soaking into the ground and recharging the aquifer. During times of drought, our underground water supplies were full. But today, with large portions of South Florida encased in asphalt and cement, rain water is funneled into storm sewers and diverted into Biscayne Bay. Water that we need to recharge our underground supplies is now considered an annoying flood risk. As a result, our aquifer is receiving less than it did historically at a time the demand for that water is much higher and continues to grow.
	The depletion of our aquifer storage is compounded by the growing threat of salt water intrusion. As the water table has dropped, sea water from Biscayne Bay continues to press further inland, contaminating our fresh water supplies. And with an estimated 700,000 new residents moving into Dade County by the year 2010--each consuming an average of 179 gallons of water per day--irreversible contamination may be imminent. When that occurs, technology will offer a single, high-cost cure: desalinization.
	But it is not too late to set a course to recovery. By working to recreate the historic hydrologic functions of the region, we can allow nature to heal itself. To be sure, this approach requires a radical departure from our long-standing policies toward water and land management in South Florida. Lands cannot be indiscriminately drained and developed without regard for the impact on watershed functions; stormwater and treated waste water can not be discarded. To heal the system, we must devise alternatives to traditional thinking, planning, and design of our region, towns, and neighborhoods--alternatives that encourage the collection, storage, cleansing, and distribution of water to all as users throughout the human and natural environment.

"Can we design our communities to positively impact the water quality and supply for the future?"	The Center for Urban and Community Design at University of Miami School of Architecture, in collaboration with the South Florida Water Management District, has begun a comprehensive analysis of watershed management options. The direction of this work is to answer the question, "Can we design our communities to positively impact the water quality and supply for the future?" Known as the South Dade Watershed Project, this ongoing initiative has produced a working vision for hydrologic sustainability in South Florida while improving the amenities and identity of towns and neighborhoods. Among the suggestions: preserve highly pervious surface areas for ongoing aquifer recharge; create neighborhood "hydric parks" to collect, cleanse, and recycle stormwater; broaden man-made canals to simulate the historic "transverse" glades that collect and transport surface water; construct sub-regional wastewater treatment plants than recycle 100 percent of our treated effluent; devote mass transit resources to upland areas where new development will interfere less with hydrologic functions; and set those incremental steps so that within 50 to 100 years our drinking water will be sustainable for centuries to come.
	Putting these ideas into practice, of course, will not be cheap nor will they be politically expedient. In some cases, private lands must be acquired for public benefit, canals must be redesigned, and development boundaries must be reconsidered. But the alternative--water more expensive than gasoline that tastes just as foul--is a choice which surely will satisfy no one.
	Goals And Objectives The Desired Goal: Sustainability Increase The Quality Of Life For All The Desired Objective: Efficiency Work Within The Natural Laws The Process: Education, Commitment And Involvement Network Long-Range Sustainable Concepts With The Consensus Of The Stakeholders
	Today's Dilemmas Fuel A Vibrant Economy While Providing For And Protecting The Long Term Sustainability Of Future Generations Protect Resources While Using Resources Realize That The Environmental Quality Has A Huge Economic Value How To Use Available Land Without Destroying Its Beneficial Value To The Region And Community
	Today's Questions What Are "Needs"? The Quality Of Life - What Is It? Protect Image - Eco Tourism; Open Space; Water Quality; Water Quantity Passive Cooling Reduces Cooling Load = Increase In Shading And Open Space
	How Did We Get Here? Bugs And Floods Draining = Less Flooding "Less Available Water = Less Water For Drinking "Less Water For Human Consumption = "Fewer Humans = Conflict With Economic Growth And More Humans
	Paradigm Shift Land Cannot Be Altered Without Impacting All The Connected Segments,Therefore Make And Protect Connections Connect Human Patterns With Natural System Networks Maximize Use Of "Free Work" Of Nature
	Options and Alternatives Protect Water Resources And Plan And Design For Alternative Approaches Learn, Discuss, and Create Tomorrow's VISION Spatially Recharge At Consumptive Rates - Development Recharges At Its Consumptive Rate
	Recommendations Maximize Solar And Renewable Resource Use In Regional, Community, And Neighborhood Planning Purchase Tomorrow's Watershed Today Purchase And Locate Regional And Local Parks To Help Define Communities While Creating Areas For Recharge And Passive Cooling
	Next Steps Create Policy To Locate And Purchase These Areas For Maximum Regional Benefit For Recharge While Creating Urban And Natural Amenities Identify Long- And Short-Term Action Items And Create Urban/Regional Recharge Utility.

	HUMAN SUSTAINABILITY IS DIRECTLY CONNECTED TO THE SUSTAINABILITY OF NATURE Daniel Williams, South Dade Watershed Project, 1994
	Daniel Williams, AIA, a practicing architect and planner is research associate professor at the Center for Urban and Community Design at the University of Miami, School of Architecture. He is presently chair of the Committee on the Environment and Energy for the American Institute of Architects and serves on the Dade Green Collation Board and City of Miami, Urban Development Review Board.

Dan Williams' "Green by Design" Other stories of interest from the South Florida Sustainability Conference