Prolonged drought conditions across South Florida have affected the Everglades and Florida Bay for nearly two years, but restoration projects are helping move more freshwater south and protect the region’s natural resources.
Everglades Foundation Senior Restoration Scientist Erik Stabenau joined Good Morning Keys on Keys Talk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about the issue.
South Florida has experienced exceptionally dry conditions, with little rainfall resembling normal patterns over the past two years.
“The simplest answer is exceptional,” Stabenau said. “It’s been dry for a very long time. It’s two years since we really seen anything that looks like normal rain of South Florida.”
Recent rainfall is a welcome development, but it will take more than a few storms to fully reverse the effects of the prolonged drought.
The drought has affected the aquifer beneath South Florida, meaning some of the incoming rainfall must first replenish groundwater supplies before significant amounts of water can flow south across the Everglades and into Florida Bay.
“The first thing that this rain has to do is refill the aquifer before the water starts basically flowing south over the land and back into Florida Bay,” Stabenau said.
The lack of freshwater flowing into Florida Bay has also contributed to elevated salinity levels in portions of the bay.
Stabenau said central areas of Florida Bay have experienced hypersaline conditions during the drought. High salinity can negatively affect seagrass, which provides important habitat for fish and supports the region’s fishing and tourism economies.
“If the water is really salty like that, as a lot of your listeners just know, the seagrass doesn’t do very well,” Stabenau said. “And if it gets really, really salty like it did in 2015, then the fish don’t do well either.”
The conditions have drawn comparisons to 2015, when high salinity and drought contributed to a massive seagrass die-off in Florida Bay.
However, restoration work completed since then has helped the Everglades move substantially more freshwater south, even during the current drought, particularly improvements involving Tamiami Trail, which historically acted as a barrier to the natural southward flow of water.
“We’ve been able to keep 10 times as much water flowing south across Tamiami Trail this year compared to what we saw in 2015,” Stabenau said. “And that’s phenomenal.”
Stabenau said the increase is an indication that Everglades restoration projects are beginning to demonstrate measurable benefits on the landscape.
“That is a really strong sign that the progress we’ve been making in Everglades is really starting to show on the landscape,” he said.
Among the projects contributing to that progress is the Tamiami Trail project, which has included elevating portions of the roadway and adding bridges and culverts to allow more water to move into Everglades National Park.
Stabenau said getting water into the park is only part of the challenge. Restoration efforts must also prevent freshwater from quickly draining away through canals and into the ocean.
“The seepage barriers are another big part of it,” he said.
Instead, restoration efforts seek to encourage water to move naturally across the landscape, including through marshes, mangroves and coastal creeks before reaching Florida Bay.
Stabenau said the effectiveness of individual restoration projects also depends on having appropriate plans for managing freshwater flows throughout South Florida.
Looking ahead, he said additional water storage will be important to help the region withstand future droughts.
“One of the big items is to have more storage in the system, so when we get into prolonged droughts, we’re holding enough fresh water to deliver that water south,” Stabenau said.
He pointed to the Everglades Agricultural Area Reservoir as an important component of that effort. The project is expected to come online by 2029.
“With that project, the EAA Reservoir project getting online by 2029, we’re going to have a better solution — not a perfect solution, but a better solution — to get us through droughts, seasonal droughts and exceptional droughts,” Stabenau said.
Stabenau cautioned that South Florida is not yet completely out of the drought.
“We need this rain to keep coming,” he said.
For residents of the Florida Keys whose livelihoods depend on fishing, diving and tourism, Stabenau said the progress made through Everglades restoration is reason for optimism.
“Everglades restoration is working,” Stabenau said. “It moves more clean, fresh water to the bay. It’s helping to protect our resources and our livelihoods.”
He also encouraged Keys residents to experience the natural resources restoration efforts are designed to protect.
“For your listeners, you are blessed. You live in the Everglades, so get out there and embrace the resource,” Stabenau said.
For more information, click here: https://www.evergladesfoundation.org/