Everglades Restoration and Your Water Under Threat

Everglades Restoration and Your Water Under Threat was the topic of an Earth Day presentation by Dr. Steve Davis, Chief Science Officer for the Everglades Foundation. This is part of the Marco Center for the Arts Earth Day lecture series.

According to Dr. Davis, Everglades restoration is about our water supply in Southwest Florida.  It is about managing the five feet of rainfall we get each year, on average, with 75% of that rainfall starting around this time of year and continuing through November.

We don’t build Everglades restoration projects, Dr. Davis informed the guests but “we work behind the scenes to advance Everglades restoration projects that maximize the environmental and economic benefits through our science and advocacy efforts. We work to get the funding so that the State and the Federal government, through the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and other key partners such as the South Florida Water Management District can do their part to complete these projects.”

Why? Because it matters to us; it matters to our economy and it matters to our future.

More than a century’s worth of extensive urban and agricultural development has not only reduced the Everglades wetland size in half but fertilizer from upstream agricultural areas has polluted the water, degraded the ecosystem and harmed wildlife in the Everglades.

According to Davis, “we did it to suit the economic needs of that time which was based on agriculture. It was about draining land and getting rid of water. This effort to redirect the water to the East and West Coast is really to allow agriculture to develop south of Lake O.  

They carved out 700,000 acres that used to be Everglades marsh, drained it and they have been farming on it ever since.”

These changes resulted in pollution going into Lake O, where it is now a 700 square mile lake polluted with phosphorus and nitrogen.  For the longest time Lake O has been operated for the benefit of just a few special interests.  

When discharges are made from Lake O, it is sending those neon green and very nasty blue water to the East and West Coast; toxic water that is tens to hundred times the toxicity that is recommended internationally. And through recently published science we now know that these discharges not only deliver toxic blue green algae but when it reaches the Gulf, it exacerbates red tide – delivering a double whammy!

Only a couple years ago, Florida witnessed one of the worst red tide and blue green algae combinations with catastrophic results to its economy and wildlife and raised public health concerns.

Everglades Restoration is about restoring the natural functionality of the Everglades. The health of our environment is tied to Florida’s economy and its future.  Davis stated that “we need to make sure that these projects are operated in such a way that they deliver maximum benefits.”

Lastly, Davis shared that Everglades restoration projects are expensive, but they are important and worth it for the future of Florida. For the 2022-2023 Governor’s Budget, $660 million was approved for Everglades restoration.

Projections on the economic benefits of restoring America’s Everglades show that investing $11.5 billion in Everglades restoration will result in $46.5 billion in gains to Florida’s economy and create more than 444,000 jobs over the next 50 years. For every dollar invested in Everglades Restoration, $4 is generated in economic benefits.