Senate Agrees to Give Everglades 78-Billion Gallon Drink of Cleaner Water

The Florida Senate has just passed a bill that would cleanse and refresh the Everglades with over 78 billion gallons of clean water.

The congregation voted 36-3 on Wednesday in favor of the proposal SB 10, which would approve the construction of a deep-water 240,000 acre foot reservoir to store and clean water of toxic discharges before being released back into the ecosystem once more. The proposal has now been passed onto the House of Representatives.

The reservoir solution was first proposed in 1994, however according to the Miami Herald, it received great opposition from sugar companies due to the bill requiring the removal of land from the Everglades Agricultural Area, which would lead to decreased sugar cane production in their mills.

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But after a recent poisonous algae super bloom, which created a public health crisis for the Everglade community, legislators agreed that it was time to act.

The $1.5 billion project would split state and federal funding to alter 14,000 acres of state land leases in the southern Everglade area. If approved, the reservoir would give a life-saving boost to the diseased ecosystem.

“Now is the time because we have the political will,” said Sen. Rob Bradley, R-Fleming Island, the Senate sponsor of the bill, according to the Miami Herald. “The science is there. The science demands it, and that science matches the heart and desire to get something done.”

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