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In South Florida, where the Everglades meet the bays, environmental challenges abound. Sea level rise threatens homes and real estate. Invasive species imperil native plants and animals. Pesticides reduce the risk of mosquito-borne diseases, but at what cost? WLRN's award-winning environment reporting strives to capture the color and complexity of human interaction with one of the most biodiverse areas of the planet.

Bus Tour Seeks Support To Clean Up Everglades

Peter Haden
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WLRN
The Now-Or-Neverglades bus rolls past Palm Beach Town Hall on Oct. 31, 2016.

A group concerned about the Florida’s water is taking its message on the road.

The Now-or-Neverglades bus tour rolled through the Town of Palm Beach on Monday. The Everglades Foundation kicked off the 12-day road trip last week to drum up support for building a water storage reservoir in the Everglades Agriculture Area - southwest of Belle Glade.

“We’re joining over 207 scientists who say that in order to stop the damaging discharges coming out of the St. Lucie River and the Caloosahatchee River, we need to allow water to flow south like mother nature intended it,” said Deborah Johnson, Vice President of Development at the Everglades Foundation.

Credit Peter Haden / WLRN
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WLRN
Deborah Johnson is vice president of development of the Everglades Foundation. “It’s time: we have the science, we have the solution, we have the funds," she said of the proposed reservoir project. "Now we need the political will and the community support to make it happen."

Johnson says the proposed project will allow the water to flow south, where it can be stored and cleaned in the new reservoir - then allowed to flow into Florida Bay and the Florida Keys.

And there should be money to pay for it, according to Johnson.

In 2014, over 74 percent of Floridians voted to approve Amendment 1,” she said, “which took doc-stamp taxes to put them away in a conservation fund to fund Everglades restoration and other conservation projects around the state. What we need to do is get it in the state budget.”

The group hopes this bus tour will help do just that.

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