Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan
The Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) is the plan enacted by the
When originally authorized by the
Overview
The Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP)
The goal of CERP is to recapture the fresh water that is currently pumped out to the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico in order to reduce water levels in Lake Okeechobee and redirect it south to the Everglades National Park that has been receiving greatly reduced inflows since the 20th century drainage of the landscape.
The majority of the water will be devoted to environmental restoration, reviving the degrading Everglades terrestrial, wetland and marine ecosystems [citation needed]. The remaining water will benefit cities and farmers by enhancing water supplies for the South Florida economy[citation needed].
Historical
The
Legal
The Plan was enacted into law by the
Numerous lawsuits affecting Everglades restoration are pending before the courts.[citation needed]
Water Storage
CERP called for eighteen above ground reservoirs for water storage, totaling 180,000 acres. Of these, 60,000 acres of water storage was called for in the Everglades Agricultural Area.[4]
U.S. National Research Council reviews
A series of biennial reports from the
To better understand the potential implications of the current slow pace of progress, the report assessed the current status of ten Everglades ecosystem attributes, including phosphorus loads, peat depth, and populations of snail kites, birds of prey that are endangered in South Florida. Most attributes received grades ranging from C (degraded) to D (significantly degraded), but the snail kite received a grade of F (near irreversible damage). The report also assessed the future trajectory of each ecosystem attribute under three restoration scenarios: improved water quality, improved hydrology, and improvements to both water quality and hydrology, which helped highlight the urgency of restoration actions to benefit a wide range of ecosystem attributes and demonstrate the cost of inaction.[7]
Overall, the report concluded that substantial near-term progress to address both water quality and hydrology in the central Everglades is needed to reverse ongoing degradation before it’s too late.
See also
References
- ^ "Congressional Research Service: Everglades Restoration: Federal Funding and Implementation Progress -- Nov. 18 2014" (PDF).
- ^ About CERP: a Brief Overview Archived 2015-02-25 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Development of the Central & South Florida (C&SF) Project Archived 2015-02-25 at the Wayback Machine
- ISBN 978-0-7432-5105-1.
- ^ National Research Council Report-in-Brief,Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Fourth Biennial Review, 2012, http://dels.nas.edu/Report/Progress-Toward-Restoring-Everglades/13422 Archived 2012-09-28 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ National Research Council Report,Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Fourth Biennial Review, 2012, http://dels.nas.edu/Report/Progress-Toward-Restoring-Everglades/13422 Archived 2012-09-28 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ National Research Council Report-in-Brief,Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Fourth Biennial Review, 2012,http://dels.nas.edu/Materials/Report-In-Brief/4296-Everglades
Further reading
- Filkins, Dexter (January 4, 2016). "Swamped: Jeb Bush's fight over the Everglades". The New Yorker. Condé Nast. pp. 32–37. Retrieved January 27, 2016.