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Everglades Rescue Needs Boost

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 18, 2008

A report on the Everglades restoration from the national Academy of Sciences should spark prompt action in Washington and Tallahassee.

The slow progress of the work is increasing costs and also the likelihood the Everglades will deteriorate beyond repair. And that should be of concern to more than alligators and snakes.

The plan to restore a natural flow of water to the Everglades will also ensure an adequate supply of drinking water to South Florida municipalities, stop the dumping of polluted water on both the East and West coasts and improve water quality from Florida Bay to the Florida Keys. So a healthy Everglades is as important to Florida's economy as it is to its environment.

Eight years ago the effort was launched to repair the River of Grass by revamping the canals, levees and flood-control systems that disrupted its water flow. But little has been accomplished. Congress, which pledged to split the $8 billion cost of the project with the state, has dawdled. Costs have shot up to $10 billion. Meanwhile, the outlook for the Everglades darkens.

"If we don't do something soon, we're going to lose this really precious resource," said William Graf, a University of South Carolina professor who helped develop the report.

Washington needs to keep its pledge. For its part, the state needs to show how its plan to buy 187,000 acres from U.S. Sugar will enhance the restoration work. While it's not clear the state needs the entire acreage to save the Everglades, there is no question buying a huge chunk of the U.S. Sugar land will enable the state to build the filtering ponds essential to cleaning water as it is rerouted to the Everglades.

What's needed in Washington and Tallahassee is an urgent commitment to get the Everglades rescue back on track.

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