Water World
My friend John Cassani has an editorial/commentary in today's local newspaper, the News-Press . John is a friend whom I've known for years, but rarely see face-to-face, because we live 50 miles apart. The first time we met was at a South Florida Water Management District meeting about nine or 10 years ago, I think, when our estuary was being slammed with discharges of polluted water from Lake Okeechobee; harmful algae blooms abounded as a result. Since then, we both have been and still are part of a group that receive regular emails on the subject of those awful discharges. Our back yard in 2013: Chowder Pond The subject of John's commentary today is the importance of wetlands in south Florida. As he explains, "Wetlands are the natural kidneys that filter pollutants from surface runoff. They attenuate flooding and recharge drinking water aquifers, key functions that help protect Florida in more ways than they are generally given credit for. For some,...