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From Drainage to Restoration: How the Everglades Got a New Plan in 2000

Most of the Everglades’ modern history is about moving water somewhere else. Canals, levees and pumps were built to drain land, prevent floods and supply growing cities and farms. By the end of the twentieth century, federal and state agencies were working on a different question: could the same engineering be used to help repair the Everglades?

For people who explore the Everglades and Francis S. Taylor Wildlife Management Area and the wider South Florida landscape, the answer came in a law signed on December 11, 2000. That law approved the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, usually called CERP.

A Water System Built for Flood Control

The South Florida Water Management District’s history page describes how the modern system began. In 1947, after years of drought, South Florida’s lower east coast received about 100 inches of rain, nearly twice the normal amount. Two hurricanes followed, and the region flooded. In 1948, Congress created the Central and Southern Florida Project. The district calls it the largest civil works project in the country, a “massive flood control plumbing system” stretching from just south of Orlando to Florida Bay. In 1949, the Florida Legislature created the Central and Southern Florida Flood Control District to manage the project. That agency later became the South Florida Water Management District.

The project did what it was built to do: protect against floods and supply water. It also changed how water moved through the natural system. The Everglades Law Center says Congress later acted to undo much of the environmental damage caused by the project.

From Study to Law

Restoration began as a study of the existing system. According to rules published by the Army Corps of Engineers in the Federal Register in 2003, Congress directed a comprehensive review of the Central and Southern Florida Project in 1996. That review, known as the “Restudy,” was completed in April 1999. The plan it produced had 68 major components. These included about 217,000 acres of reservoirs and wetland-based water treatment areas, along with wastewater reuse plants and seepage management.

Congress approved the plan in the Water Resources Development Act of 2000, Public Law 106-541. President Bill Clinton signed it on December 11, 2000. Section 601 of the law approved the plan “as a framework for modifications and operational changes” to the Central and Southern Florida Project. The goal was to “restore, preserve, and protect the South Florida ecosystem” while still meeting the region’s other water needs, including water supply and flood protection. When he signed the law, President Clinton described the plan as a partnership among federal, state, tribal and local leaders, and as a journey of more than 30 years.

What the 2000 Law Set Up

The law did more than name a goal. The text of Section 601 includes several provisions that still shape how restoration is organized:

A shared partnership. The federal share of the cost of authorized projects was set at 50 percent. The non-federal sponsor was made responsible for the land, easements, rights-of-way and relocations the plan needs. The South Florida Water Management District describes CERP as a 50-50 partnership between the Army Corps of Engineers and the State of Florida, with the district as the state’s local sponsor.
Water set aside for nature. Before most construction money could be spent, the law required a binding agreement between the President and Florida’s governor. Under that agreement, water produced by the plan could not be permitted for other uses until enough had been reserved for restoring the natural system. That agreement was signed on January 9, 2002, under President George W. Bush.
A broad definition of the natural system. The law’s “natural system” includes water conservation areas, Everglades National Park, Biscayne National Park and Big Cypress National Preserve. It also covers other public conservation lands and tribal land designated and managed for conservation, as approved by the tribe.
Outside review. The law called for an independent scientific review panel, convened by a body such as the National Academy of Sciences, to report to Congress every two years on progress toward the plan’s restoration goals.

The law also authorized a first group of pilot and initial projects. These included the C-44 Basin Storage Reservoir, the first phase of the Everglades Agricultural Area storage reservoirs and the Site 1 Impoundment. Other projects in the plan needed later approval.

Why 2000 Marks a Turning Point

The 2000 authorization did not finish restoration. It set a long-term framework, and the work has continued through later studies, approvals and construction. The status of individual projects is best checked through current releases from the Army Corps of Engineers and the South Florida Water Management District.

What changed in 2000 was the purpose of the system. The Everglades Law Center describes the aim as improving the quantity, quality, timing and distribution of water reaching the natural system. The same canals, levees and water-control structures that once served mainly drainage and flood control would now also be managed to help the ecosystem recover. For anyone looking across South Florida’s sawgrass today, the landscape reflects both periods of engineering.

Learning the history adds another dimension to the landscape. If you would like to see the Everglades for yourself, you can explore Miami Airboat’s tour options within the Everglades and Francis S. Taylor Wildlife Management Area.