President Obama has signed off on a bill authorizing $2 billion in spending to help Everglades restoration efforts.
The Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation (WIIN) Act of 2016 provides half of the necessary funding needed for the Central Everglades Planning Project; the other half would come from the State of Florida.
“What this project will do is, it will remove the levees, the barriers in the central part of the system so when it’s remove you’ll get a more natural flow across the plain,” said Eric Eikenberg, CEO of the Everglades Foundation.
For decades people have been calling for a permanent fix to the bad engineering and poorly-planned development that has misdirected the water flow from Lake Okeechobee directly south, as opposed to east and west. This bill will help re-establish the system’s original natural water flow.
Everglades alligator photo by Storm Cunningham.