Essay - Everglades and the Problem of Water Management the Everglades is...

Everglades and the problem of Water Management

The Everglades is a unique ecosystem ***** there is no other like it in the world. The Everglades are the source and secur*****y of the fresh water that enables people to live and do business in South Florida. It ***** the source of drinking water for the area's five million people, and sustains a productive agricultural industry. Over ***** past century, the Everglades have been severely harmed by the growth in human population.

Water management is one ***** the most severe environmental issues fac*****g the Everglades today. ***** Everglades' watershed starts in the Kissimmee River basin north of Lake Okeechobee.

In the summertime, thunderstorms would flood this area, the large lake, and extensive areas of everglades marsh, creating created a shallow, wide river that flowed slowly south through the everglades to ***** Gulf ***** Mexico. The summer rains ***** then subside ***** a six-month dry season. The plants and animals of the Everglades adapted to this seasonal cycle ***** wetness ***** *****ness.

***** the entire United States, only California, New York, and Texas outstrip Florida in population these days. Approximately 900 people move ***** Florida every day. In addition, about 39 million people visit ***** every year from ***** places. Approximately 12 million of these people come during winter's dry season as the state's water supplies naturally drop. Nothing feels ***** pressure of this ***** increase more than the historic *****.

As a result of this population growth, the Everglades now face a serious water supply *****. ***** Everglades are now about half *****ir original size of four million acres and large portions ***** the remaining area are degraded.

Drainage projects and development have negatively influenced ***** systems ***** quality and biodiversity. Flood control ***** water distribution systems for urban ***** have altered the quantity, timing, and distribution of water flows.

Before humans intervened, water used to move slowly from ***** Okeechobee ***** Florida Bay in a smooth flow through the *****. Along this p*****th, ***** ***** filtered ***** would simply recharge the Biscayne Aquifer, supply nutrients to vegetation, maintain a supply ***** fresh w*****ter for animals, reduce ***** risk of fire, maintain surface ***** ground water levels reducing salt water intrusion and ***** the food chain.

However, ***** have destroyed the way the Everglades operate. Over the past century, people have developed and implemented a system ***** dikes, canals, levees, floodgates, and pumps which transport water to agricultural lands, then to urban areas, and finally to ***** National Park. These alterations have disturbed the alternating wet and dry *****s that many animals are used *****, resulting in ***** endangerment of many of the ***** animals.

***** first water management activities of humans were designed to drain the Everglades and exploit the natural resources of rich soils and tropical climate for agricultural development. Years later, the canal ***** was improved for navigational use to move products to coastal markets. Humans created canals, pump stations, and structures to provide ***** supply to coastal areas,