The South Florida Water Management District takes a system-wide approach to protecting and restoring the Southern and Northern Everglades. These interdependent ecosystems stretch across most of South Florida and include: the Upper Chain of Lakes, Kissimmee River, Lake Okeechobee, St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers and estuaries, Big Cypress National Preserve, Everglades National Park with adjacent water conservation areas and South Florida's coastal bays.
Restoration Improves Water Quality and Quantity
A comprehensive effort is under way to protect and restore these ecosystems. Planned and ongoing restoration projects are improving regional water quality, hydrology and ecology – all of which were fundamentally altered by public and private development projects begun more than a century ago.