(1) The Everglades is a unique national resource. It has a high diversity of species, and provides habitat for large populations of wading birds and several threatened and endangered species, including wood storks, snail kites, bald eagles, Florida panthers, and American crocodiles. Large portions of the northern and eastern Everglades have been drained and converted to agricultural or urban land uses. Only 50% of the original Everglades ecosystem remains today. The remainder is the largest and most important freshwater sub-tropical peatland in North America. The remaining components of the historic Everglades are located in the Water Conservation Areas (WCAs) and Everglades National Park (ENP). ENP and Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge (WCA 1) are Outstanding Florida Waters, a designation which requires special protection for the resource.
    (2) Large portions of the Everglades ecosystem have evolved in response to low ambient concentrations of nutrients and seasonal fluctuations of water levels. Prior to creation of the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA), nitrogen and phosphorus were mainly supplied to large areas only in rainfall. Phosphorus is the primary limiting nutrient throughout the remaining Everglades. Sawgrass has lower phosphorus requirements than other species of Everglades vegetation.
    (3) A substantial portion of EAA nutrients is transported to the remaining Everglades either in dissolved or in particulate form in surface waters. The introduction of phosphorus from EAA drainage water has resulted in ecological changes in substantial areas of Everglades marsh. These changes are cultural eutrophication, which is an increase in the supply of nutrients available in the marsh. The increased supply of phosphorus in Everglades marshes has resulted in documented impacts in several trophic levels, including microbial, periphyton, and macrophyte. The areal extent of these impacts is increasing.
    (4) The State of Florida enacted The Marjory Stoneman Douglas Everglades Protection Act in 1991. The Act required the District to publish notice of rulemaking by October 1, 1991, allowing for a master permit or permits authorizing discharges, subject to conditions or requirements, from landowners within the area served by the drainage structures listed in Appendix A3, TABLE A1. That law was substantially revised in 1994 and is codified today as the Everglades Forever Act, Florida Statutes § 373.4592
    (5) The regulatory program to address the reduction of total phosphorus loads from the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) in general was adopted initially by this chapter in December 1991 and was amended in 1992 to add a specific phosphorus load allocation.
Rulemaking Authority 373.044, 373.113 FS. Law Implemented 373.016, 373.451, 373.453, 373.4592 FS. History-New 1-22-92, Amended 7-7-92, 7-3-01.