Water-Quality Concerns Aired on Florida Everglades Set-To-Start Reservoir Project

摘要

Water quality is the central issue in a dispute between state engineers and scientists over whether discharge from a planned $550-million Florida Everglades water-storage project will meet state and federal rules-and, more critically, benefit or harm the Caloosahatchee River and its estuary. The river is the western outlet for water discharged when Lake Okeechobee rises and threatens the dike that encloses it. After heavy January rainfall flooded the lake, water laden with agricultural runoff and nutrients was released into the Caloosahatchee in such volume that it stirred up river sediment. The result was an environmental disaster for the estuary and for barrier-island tourism.