The South Florida Water Management District did what we asked: they ran the model to find out how much land we need to store, treat, and send clean water south to the Everglades instead of to our rivers. So why,…

We’ve been here before: on the verge of building a dynamic reservoir in the EAA to cut discharges to the coasts by taking water from Lake Okeechobee, cleaning it, and sending it south to Florida Bay and the parched Everglades. That…

SFWMD just announced that modeling for the EAA reservoir’s land needs will be released in December. Thank you to all the Bullsugar supporters, politicians, journalists, and conservationists who demanded more urgency from the district. December still leaves almost no time for independent scientists…

The Army Corps wants to hear from you about developing water and drainage plans. Is this a chance to start talking about where health and human safety rank in South Florida’s water management system? The Corps’ public comment request is for…

Why is Doug Smith’s Martin County commission weakening protections for the St. Lucie? It comes down to money and sugar. Whenever you call attention to the sugar industry’s responsibility for destroying Florida’s rivers, their executives immediately blame local communities for overdevelopment,…

Please read “A Catastrophe in the Everglades and How to Fix It” by Hal Herring in the latest Field & Stream (click here). No one has ever crafted a sharper picture of what’s at stake in South Florida and how close we are…

Last week, Ernie Marks, executive director of the South Florida Water Management District, faced a crowded room at a Rivers Coalition meeting in Stuart. He’d joked about getting hit with tomatoes. He did get some sharp questions, including from Bullsugar, but he…

Right now billions of gallons of fertilizer, sewage, and legacy pollution from Lake Okeechobee are spewing into the St. Lucie River, carrying a new threat of toxic algae. Water managers may say Irma left them no choice, but of course that’s a…

Irma’s next victims will be the fishing, hospitality, artist, and service communities in South Florida.  The next urgent task is to help supplement those without sufficient financial buffers against unexpected catastrophe of this scale. As recovery begins, we should be…

With weeks left in the 2017 hurricane season, and open speculation about how long the Herbert Hoover dike can hold back a rising Lake Okeechobee, how can the sugar industry possibly justify adding to the danger by back-pumping billions of gallons of water off…