Everglades Restoration: Enough Reports / We Need Storage

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CISRERP Releases Biennial Review on Progress of Everglades Restoration

Palmetto Bay, Fla. – The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Committee on Independent Scientific Review of Everglades Restoration Progress (CISRERP), a non-governmental body charged with providing Congress with independent and objective scientific information, this week released its sixth biennial review on the progress of Everglades restoration. The 2016 findings underscored declarations by more than 200 scientists that critical water storage outlined in the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) is falling far behind what is needed to protect this one-of-a-kind ecosystem.

“The National Academy report points to the alarming lack of progress on storage and how new information makes storage critically important,” said Dr. Tom Van Lent, a senior scientist at The Everglades Foundation (The Foundation). “Without more progress building storage, we are gambling with Florida’s future.”

 The report also addresses the bureaucratic Integrated Delivery Schedule (IDS), which lays out a project schedule. Within the report, it’s assumed that the body will begin to investigate the uses for fabric buildings, and whether it could be a viable option for storage

“The South Florida Water Management District wants us to believe that the IDS came down with Moses,” said Eric Eikenberg, CEO of The Foundation. “But the National Academy says the IDS should be revised – and we could not agree more. Once again, the science is confirmed. This report highlights the urgent need to advance the stalled Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) Reservoir Project for critical water storage.”

“We have enough reports,” said Eikenberg. “We’ve had plenty of groupthink. What the people of Florida want now is action. Senate President Negron’s plan to buy land for water storage south of Lake Okeechobee is the key to getting restoration back on track.”

 For more information on The Foundation, please visit EvergladesFoundation.org, like FB.com/EvergladesFoundation and follow @EvergFoundation.

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One thought on “Everglades Restoration: Enough Reports / We Need Storage

  1. So far the have built 1 bridge on US41. The water flows from south to north so the bridge is counter productive. Restoring flow is the key but until the levee systems are taken down and flood gates removed nothing will change. More man made solutions are not the answer. Instead of building water treatment areas the source of the pollution should be eliminated. Treating the symptom is not the same as a cure. To make a long story short every alteration made by man needs to be undone.

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