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Essay about Resource Mangement for Clean Water in Households

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Despite it’s abundance, water is a precious resource. Without it, life on earth would cease to exist in less than two weeks. It’s no surprise then that the Department of the Interior has seven agencies tasked in some capacity with the regulation, distribution, filtration, and preservation of clean water. 1 But in reality, while these federal agencies do serve a purpose, they are not demonstrably involved with the process of bringing clean water to households. That is the job of the states and localities. Florida, due to it’s size, shape, topography, and population centers, serves as an an excellent case study of the challenges involved in water resource management. In Florida, the legal responsibility of managing and protecting water …show more content…

The SFWMD uses machines that pump the water out of streets, and these pumps run on expensive fuel. If a major hurricane were to flood South Florida, the SFWMD, with it’s current budget, does not have the funds to remove water from the streets. The budget cuts not only have environmental consequences, but public health and economic consequences as well. These budget cuts can have additional disastrous effects for a system that is already poorly designed. Currently, excess water from Lake Okoeechobee is being dumped into the St. Lucie Canal and the Callsahatchee River, which poses environmental problems. 4 The fact that the water is being dumped at high levels is a result of the SFWMD system having been designed without the knowledge of the negative impact it would have on the estuaries. When the system was built in the 1940’s, the damage was simply unforeseeable. However, there are two factors unique to the geography of Florida that are exacerbating the need for dumping, and they both have to do with rising water levels of Lake Okeechobee. First, less water is leaving Lake Okeechobee. The creation of the Everglades Agricultural area has essentially cut off the flow of water from Lake Okeechobee to the Everglades, which served as a key outlet for water to flow to. 5 In addition, more water is entering Lake Okeechoee. The Kissimmee River has been channelized over the past 100

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