Elements of South Florida's Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan

Abstract

Approximately 70% less water flows through the Everglades ecosystem today compared with the historic Everglades, and the quality of the remaining water is often degraded. The regionally managed hydropattern does not follow the pre-drainage distribution, timing, and duration of the natural Everglades, nor can water move freely though the remaining Everglades. As a result, there have been significant reductions in wildlife and fish populations, their habitat, and the environmental services wetlands provide society. Both the problems of declining ecosystem health and the solutions to Everglades restoration center on restoring the quantity, quality, timing, and distribution of water. The Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan consists of over 60 civil works projects that will be designed and implemented over a 30 year period. At an estimated cost of $7.8 billion, it seeks to correct an earlier attempt at water management in South Florida and improve water availability during the dry season and reduce flooding of urban and agricultural areas during the wet season. The plan calls for storage and controlled release from more than 217,000 acres of new reservoirs and wetland-based treatment areas and from over 300 underground aquifer storage and recovery wells. The plans assumes that during retention in stormwater treatment areas, the excess phosphorus, nitrogen, agrichemicals such as atrazine, diazinon, endosulfan, and other contaminants will be reduced before release into the natural areas. It also assumes that little or no change in water quality will occur during underground storage. To improve the hydraulic connectivity of natural areas, some of the extensive system of levees and canals within the Everglades will be removed in an effort to improve overland water flow. Most of the current planning has focused on water storage and restoring basic hydrology in the remnant natural areas and on phosphorus removal as a benchmark of water quality. The restoration plan, as approved by Congress, is conceptual and most of the details, including potential impacts of the plan on the natural system and the role of contaminants remain to be evaluated.