There is an important crisis in the Indian River Lagoon that nobody really wants to address. Why? Well, if everyone knew that the lagoon was so polluted, nobody would swim in it. In fact, the five counties bordering the 156 miles of the lagoon could suffer extreme economic loss. If tourists don’t come to visit the area, then the beach-side shops will certainly decrease in number, leaving more people without a job. Have you ever been outside during season (mainly early January through late March)? The snowbirds (people that come down to Florida to wait out the winter) are all over the place. They make up for a large amount of the purchases during that time. If these people think the lagoon is polluted, they might decide to go somewhere else …show more content…
The Indian River Lagoon is an extremely important and fragile ecosystem that is absolutely essential for marine life in Indian River County. This estuary provides for over 2200 animal species and 2100 plant species, including spotted sea trout, red fish, snook, tarpon, mullet, sheepshead, pompano, seahorses, blue crabs, hermit crabs, pink shrimp, scallops, clams, marine worms, marine snails, oysters, mangroves, manatee grass, turtle grass, shoal grass, threatened Johnson’s grass, and the Atlantic salt marsh snake, which are both found nowhere else in the world.
The main problem that the lagoon is facing is pollution from runoff and freshwater inputs such as Taylor Creek or Lake Okeechobee. Some of this pollution is nutrient pollution, which promotes bacterial growth and needless to say, causes some problems. The other type of pollution, This essay with describe such affects and what you can do to stop the degrading ecosystem known as the Indian River Lagoon from falling into an irreversible pollution
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Sadly, this is impossible. You remember that Okeechobee is also an ecosystem being threatened by our lack of responsibility and regard for our ecosystem. Before human alteration to the ecosystem, the Kissimmee Basin’s water meandered south to Lake Okeechobee. It used to take 6-8 months for this to happen, but now the process is over in a matter of 1, causing the lake to rise at an unusually fast pace. The water levels here are supposed to stay between 12.5 and 15.5 feet, but lately the water levels have been much higher, creating the need to empty the water into the lagoon and the Caloosahatchee River (could they of picked a longer name?). If they did not, the higher water levels would continue to drown out many ground plant
This is a very critical situation that needs to be fixed urgently. The habitats of the Everglades depend on an annual water cycle which has been hindered by the development construction which was imposed on the farmland. Back in the 19th century, developers were keen on draining all the swamps in the Everglades for developmental purposes. Their intention was to grow sugarcane plantations on the land yet sugarcanes are highly destructive to the Everglades. They too disrupt the water cycle to which the wildlife has adapted. The Florida sugar industry built on the southern Shore of Lake Okeechobee directly clocks the water source for the remaining Everglades hence destroying the habitats of the wildlife existing in the affected areas.
Fifty percent of the original wetlands doesn’t even exist today. The water supply in the Everglades is changing and that has affected the Everglades in many ways. For one, population is decreasing and mankind needs to restore it somehow. Next, the Everglades are in need of some money to do that restoration, but where will they get it from? Last, the water supply is poisoning the humanity around it with much bacteria and many bad and dangerous elements. The Everglades water supply affected it in fixing the Everglades and wildlife.
Nature designed Florida to be one large marine ecosystem. Florida is one big sand peninsula located below the 40th longitudinal North American line. Three bodies of salt water (Gulf of Mexico, Strait of Florida and Atlantic Ocean) surround three out of four directions of Florida. Man-made canals, natural lakes, rivers and estuaries are confined within the State of Florida’s physical boundaries. All of these form an interlocking system of waterways that impact the interconnected marine environment (marine ecosystem). All of Florida’s waterways are connected back to the surrounding bodies of water while passing through Florida’s sub-tropical and temperate zones and impact the delicate marine ecosystem balance. Man and nature are causing a negative impact to this region like never before. Hurricanes, lack of green initiatives, garbage, pollution and the stripping of natural resources for population growth are decimating Florida’s natural ecosystems.
Maintaining ecological diversity is necessary for the survival of a biological community. In the United States, American citizens are on the verge of irrevocably damaging one of the country's most unique and diverse treasures - the Florida Everglades. This national park is now the only remaining patch of a river that used to span 120 miles from Lake Okeechobee to the Florida Bay. Dikes and levees created by the Army Corps of Engineers in the late 1940's drained this river to reduce flooding and increase useable water for the development of the region. This major diversion of water lead to a trickle down effect causing the continual decline of the environmental state of the Everglades. Since then, debates over the Everglades' future have silently raged on for years about how, why, and when the restoration will begin. This ongoing, but virtually unproductive effort has cost taxpayers a great deal without any apparent benefits. Recently, this debate has been amplified by the voices of the sugar industry in Florida, which was attacked for its major contribution to pollution of the Everglades. Now debates rage on with a new effort called the Restudy. Backed by the Army Corps of Engineers, this effort would change the flow of the Everglades, potentially restoring it into the viable community of life that it used to be. The question now is, will this latest attempt to restore the Everglades ever be realized (thus ending the cyclic Everglades debate) or will it simply add up to one more notch on the bedpost of inadequate and failed attempts to save this national treasure. The world is watching to see how the United States will handle this unprecedented cleanup.
"The Cost to Human Health." How We Save the Bay. N.p., 2012. Web. 25 Nov. 2013.
The tidal salt marshes make vital contributions to the ecosystem in Jamaica Bay. The marshes help spawning processes and are primary nursery for species important to both recreational and commercial uses, providing protection from storm surges, and also removing pollutants and other toxic substances, which as a result, acts as a natural filter, improving the water quality in the bay. Salt marshes are low lying, grasslands that periodically become overwhelmed and drained by high tides. The fish and shellfish nurseries and are also a feeding ground for various species of wildlife in the ecosystem. They support a variety of invertebrates such as mussels, shrimp, oysters and horseshoe crabs that are key elements of the estuarine ecosystem. However, throughout the past few decades, the salt marshes at Jamaica Bay has significantly declined which created a tremendous negative impact on the general public in addition to the deterioration on the living habitats in the area. Many factors contribute to the decline such as sediment depletion, neighboring developments, increased tidal ranges, and especially nitrogen loading from untreated sewage. Although the damages done were unintentional, much of it was occurred due to negligence. As awareness has increased, restoration efforts have escalated as well as various groups respond well to mitigate the losses.
Lake Erie is a fascinating biological system despite many years of climate and human destruction along with ecosystem challenges. The burning river now has become the greatest ecosystem recovery of the world.
The Florida Everglades is one of the most diverse wetland ecosystems in the United States. These tropical wetlands span an area of more than seven hundred square miles in southern Florida. The term Everglade means river of grass. The system starts in central Florida near Orlando and travels southwest to the tip of Florida. The Everglades has a wet season and a dry season which causes a great change in hydrology. During the wet season the system is a slow moving river that is sixty miles wide and over a hundred miles long. During the dry season water levels drop and some areas will completely dry up. The Everglades has many different aquatic environments all having interdependent ecosystems. The most important factor for all these environments is water. It helps shape the land, vegetation, and all the organism that live in each area. Each environment has particular needs for the organisms living in that area. Throughout the years humans have diverted the water to fit their varying needs. The state has built dikes and levees, dug canals, and have built locks to divert the water. This has all been done to keep areas completely dry for developing and agricultural needs. Today, The Everglades is half the size of its original size. Throughout the years many restoration acts have been created and updated. The Everglades restoration projects have been the most expensive environmental repairs in The United States. This is because The Everglades is one of the three most important wetland areas in the world. The Everglades National Park is the home of thirty six protected species including the West Indian Manatee, the American Crocodile, and the Florida Panther. The Everglades also homes hundreds of species of birds, fish, mammals, and repti...
Water management is one of the most critical environmental issues facing the Florida Everglades at this point in time. The everglades watershed originates in the central Florida Kissimmee River basin north of Lake Okeechobee. Summer thunderstorms would flood this region, the big lake, and extensive areas of everglades marsh. This created a shallow, wide river which flowed slowly south through the everglades to the mangrove estuaries of the Gulf of Mexico. The summer rains would then give way to a ...
Farming is a $1 billion industry and nearby farmers need to dispose of agricultural drainage so that their crops would continue to thrive (McClurg). Farms have needed a place to drain water from their fields and they have been draining it into the Salton Sea since the 1920’s (McClurg). Unfortunately, the pollution caused by the drainage has caused further damage to the economy because of the loss of tourism. In the 1980’s the Salton Sea used to generate $300 million for the local economy (McClurg). Today tourism and the money the lake used to generate has been declining rapidly because of the pollution (McClung). Fixing the Salton Sea so that it can be used for agriculture, wildlife, and tourism will be extremely expensive to California in the future (James). “California has a new $383 million plan for the shrinking Salton Sea” in the short term but the long-term plan could cost “between $1.5 and $2 billion” (James).
Tom Van Lent, senior scientist at the Everglades Foundation has stated that restoring the Everglades is like, “trying to assemble the world’s largest, most complex, eco-oriented jigsaw puzzle” (Everglades). However, certain steps can be taken to start the healing process. First, the state of Florida should start treating the water of the Everglades for mercury and phosphorous and lowering the levels of chemicals in the water. The Everglades Foundation has started to clean the chemical water through the South Florida Water Management District but needs more of a boost (Everglades). Secondly, the state of Florida should remove the dams that block the southern flow of water from Lake Okeechobee into the Everglades. The original flow of water was somewhat of a natural cleanser for chemicals, but several dams block the flow of water and could be safely removed (Everglades). Additionally, the removal of the dams would restore the balance of water back into the marsh, no longer being oversaturated or
Pollution is something we create. It is man made. We pollute our air, and very importantly, our water. The great lakes is one o...
Florida became a state in 1845 and almost immediately people began proposing to drain the Everglades. In 1848, a government report said that draining the Everglades would be easy, and there would be no bad effect. Canals and dams were dug to control seasonal flooding. Farmers grew vegetables in the rich soil of the drained land, Ranchers had their cattle graze on the dry land, and new railways lines were constructed to connect communities throughout south Florida; but the ecosystem of the Everglades was not suited for either farming or ranching. The natural cycle of dry and wet seasons brought a devastating series of droughts and floods. These had always been a p...
...n, the Louisiana wetlands are an extremely valuable asset to the State of Louisiana and the United States. The continual loss of Louisiana wetlands has the potential to have an immensely negative effect on the economy at a state and national level. Over 2 million people live in the Louisiana coastal parishes (Field et al., 1991). The majority of people living on the Louisiana coast make their living from things that are directly related to the wetlands. The Louisiana wetlands make up the largest wetland community in America and is being lost at a rate greater than the other wetland communities in the country. The suggested strategies that are being taken into consideration could be helpful but it seems that the State of Louisiana is not as concerned as it should be given the future consequences and much like climate change coastal erosion is not being taken serious.
Water Pollution is a current issue that has serious consequences; it progresses everyday in our lakes, oceans, rivers and other bodies of water.