"They don't prioritize restoration. They instead leave it to chance," Grosso said.

The rules, revamped twice so far, were developed by order of a federal water-resources law passed in 2000. They are supposed to translate the broad concepts and goals of an Everglades rescue into restoration nuts and bolts.

Environmentalists consider them too vague and procedural and devoid of some key guarantees they had sought. Audubon of Florida's Everglades policy director, April Gromnicki, said the rules have become "a lost opportunity" to lay a long-term foundation for proper restoration.

"Now we'll have to fight that battle on a project-by-project basis," she said.

Officials praise rules

Though Everglades activists dished out harsh criticism, federal officials, who manage much of the Everglades, praised the 110-page document.

George Dunlop, Army deputy assistant secretary for civil works, said the rules are "a real milestone in collaborative efforts" to halt degradation of the Everglades under a 50-year-old drainage system that now regulates where, when and how it receives water.

Interior Secretary Gale Norton described them as "a significant and lasting step towards a restored Everglades." Along with other Everglades agreements, she said, "the regulations provide certainty we will `get the water right' for both the Everglades and people of South Florida."

That dual goal -- increasing the supply of water to wildlife and quenching the thirst of development -- suggests the rules are a virtual failure and is a major rub for Audubon of Florida, the Sierra Club, National Parks Conservation and other environmental groups who hoped the rules would help restore the 'Glades. Congress said restoration should be the "overarching goal" of the Everglades program, which will build reservoirs, store storm water underground, plug canals and raze some of the earth walls subdividing the formerly flow-through River of Grass. The rules clearly emphasize that restoration comes first, but the details, environmentalists insist, defeat that claim.

Activists want goals

The rules, released a year past their deadline, could better ensure ecological recovery if they included interim goals or measures of progress, environmentalists said. Instead those yardsticks were left out so they could be established in a separate agreement. Environmentalists said they won't offer the same force of law that would have come from weaving them into the rules.

But the Engineers and Interior officials say the agreement -- to be signed by the governor, secretary of the Interior and secretary of Army -- would have teeth. "That's a pretty high-level document. I view that as binding," said Stu Appelbaum, an Everglades restoration leader with the Engineers.

The rules also fail to spell out who will get the remaining water if a project -- for instance, a newly built reservoir -- does not deliver as much as first planned. Environmentalists want proof the Everglades will be able to drink up what it needs first.

"The [Everglades] coalition is incredulous that they simply do not say who gets the water when there's a water shortfall," Grosso said. "If the regulations did nothing else they should have done that."

Environmentalists also still think the rules do not give Interior officials enough of a say over restoration decisions being made by the Engineers, South Florida Water Management District and an inter-agency science and technical steering group called RECOVER.

Sen. Bob Graham, a dean of Everglades protection for the state, hailed the rules as "welcomed progress toward restoration" and said they were improved over an earlier draft.

Interior adviser Donald Jodrey said his agency is satisfied with its role and ability to shape the project, and said the rules favor restoration.

"I don't buy the environmental groups' paranoia," he said.

Jodrey said the water targets for other beneficiaries of the project -- farmers and municipal water suppliers -- would simply reduce their anxiety by letting them know what they can expect.

Neil Santaniello can be reached at nsantaniello@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6625.