— By Karen Cochrane, Angela Nicoletti and Adrienne Sylver —
Many parts of the world are facing a freshwater crisis. Severe, long-lasting drought conditions not seen for thousands of years gripped much of the U.S. in 2022. Coalinga, a small town in California, made headlines because water was expected to run out by December.
In our rapidly changing world, could any town become Coalinga?
That's a question Todd Crowl, director of the Institute of Environment, wonders about. It's hard not to. Florida's future is intricately connected to the fate of vitally important freshwater ecosystems. In search of solutions, Crowl and institute scientists know one thing for certain: Hope for South Florida's resilience can be found in the restoration of a freshwater wetland among the world's largest and most important — the Everglades. What happens to it, happens to us.
Unraveling the complexity of how it all works is an enormous challenge. Almost as enormous as the Everglades. FIU researchers have always faced it head on. Nearly 20 years ago, their findings set water quality standards by advising the restriction of phosphorus to 10 parts per billion for Everglades National Park, a standard incorporated into the federal Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP). And for more than two decades, FIU has led the National Science Foundation-supported Florida Coastal Everglades Long Term Ecological Research (FCE LTER) program that's collected the most comprehensive, long- term data instrumental to understanding how the Everglades is changing over time, as well as providing a baseline for gauging effectiveness of current and future management strategies.
The work hasn't stopped. It can't stop. Restoration and protection depend on this type of data.
Cascading Consequences
With a piece of paper in front of him, Crowl can sketch out the story of how the Everglades is connected to the underground world of water millions of South Floridians rely on.
First, he must jump to the past. More than a century ago, water flowed naturally north to south, marked by seasonal ebbs and flows, and fed the Everglades. Then, Florida's population grew. And grew. Development and agricultural lands encroached on the River of Grass. Half the Everglades was dredged and drained. Water was rerouted; the flow, disrupted.
A cascade of changes followed. Even underground. That's where the Biscayne Aquifer — a shallow layer of porous limestone sitting underneath a portion of South Florida — is located. It provides one of the most densely populated areas of the U.S. with fresh water. Rain falling over the Everglades recharges and refills the aquifer, seeping into the ground and filling the crevices. Rainfall over urban areas doesn't have the same fate. Roads, concrete sidewalks and other infrastructure act as impediments, making it impossible for water to make its journey to the aquifer, so most of it enters canals or the ocean. With the Everglades less than half its original size, there's less available space to refill the aquifer from which 300 million gallons of water are pumped daily.
Everglades restoration would also help the aquifer fight off rising seas that make it vulnerable to saltwater intrusion and pollution caused by run-off from agricultural lands and residential areas.
"Restoration is key because when water can once again move north to south, more clean water can fill up the Everglades and the aquifer, allowing fresh water to push back the salt water," Crowl says.
If it all flows as it should, water for Floridians and tourists would be safe, keeping the state's $1 trillion economy humming. The home of the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida would be protected. Threatened and endangered animals, birds, plants and other organisms found nowhere else on Earth, and wholly dependent on the Everglades ecosystem, would still have a place to live.
"If we want to solve the problem of being able to live here for the next 100 years without running out of fresh water, we need to understand this whole watershed and that it all works together. Without the Everglades being restored, we're not recharging our freshwater resources fast enough." — Todd Crowl
