News Around the Lagoon
First Phase of Everglades Restoration Begins
Trace Levels of Wood Presearvations Found in Florida Aquifer
Nonnative Mussels Found in Tampa could Spread Wildly
House Members Urge Bush to Retain Clean Water Act Protection
Artificial Reefs Study and Regulation Plan
Invasive Cogon Grass May Surpass Kudzu as Southern Plant Scourge
Congress Oks $150 million for Everglades
Central Florida Water Supply in Peril
5,000 New Fish Species in Census of Oceans
EPA Reports 40 More Superfund Toxic Waste Site Cleanups
Skin Lesions Affect Fishermen and Swimmers
Mercury Decreases in Everglades
Surfriders TRests Prompts Further StudyRunoff Cause Cattails Spread in Everglades
Puffer-fish Band Stretches to One Year
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The Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan of 2000 has begun the first of more than 50 projects designed to either filter, store or improve the flow of water through the Everglades. The project will transform 55,000 acres of roads, canals and empty lots that were part of a 1960s development scam. It is a replumbing of the Everglades to restore its natural water flow and stop environmental degradation. However, it also attempts the conflicting goals of supplying water for agriculture and urban needs. The state has purchased all lands but two of the remaining plots, including a section owned by the Miccosukee Tribe. Workers will fill in four canals that were created to avoid flooding in the planned development. They also will erase 26 miles of roads that now block the flow in Picayune State Forest. The project will help restore native plants and habitat for the endangered panther and wood stork. The network of roads and canals built to start the development pushed the water table down by as much as four feet, allowing foreign Brazilian pepper trees and other exotic plants to invade the Cypress-dotted area. The changes have caused an increase in wildfires, shot damaging loads of fresh water into coastal estuaries and threatened nearby drinking-water. The opponents see this restoration project as a massive water - supply plan for the millions of people living in the southern half of the state. The Everglades is a slow moving river blocked by levees and roads, drained by canals and diverted to meet the needs of farmers and the unrelenting urban growth of South Florida. With the water under control, the sugar industry blossomed in the rich muck left exposed by the receding swamp. Nutrients seeping from 500,000 acres of sugar cane, other vegetable farms and new subdivisions have spurred the growth of cattails and other non-native, undesirable plants.
Trace Levels of Wood Preservations Found in Florida Aquifer from the Daytona Beach News-Journal
Trace levels of wood preservations have been detected in the Floridian Aquifer close to a well drawing drinking water. A two-month investigation of soil and groundwater concluded that chemicals used in a wood treatment facility had migrated into the aquifer 156 feet below. Prolonged exposure to those chemicals can lead to bone marrow damage, anemia and cancer. The chemicals detected were found in relatively low concentrations. The site lies within the zone where 15 wells take water from the Aquifer.
Nonnative Mussels Found in Tampa could Spread Wildly from Daytona Beach Journal-News
Discovered in Tampa Bay in 1999, The Southeast Asian green mussel probably made its way to Florida on the hulls of vessels or in the ballast water of ships from the Caribbean. Scientists are worried the mussel will become as invasive as the zebra mussel, which infest the Great Lakes and has spread down the Mississippi River to New Orleans. The green mussels are able to reproduce by the age of two months and are spread through ocean currents. The Keys might be the their next target. Environmentally, they're becoming a nuisance able to displace native mollusks, spread disease and out-compete filter-feeding sea creatures for plankton.
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