for millennia, water has spread across the broad expanse of the florida everglades. but in the last 100 years or so man has blocked its path with roads and dug canals to drain and reroute its course. now some parts of the everglades have too much water and some have too little.

“the problem is the everglades are our water supply.” said eric buermann of the southern florida water management district. “and there’s only 40 percent of the natural everglades left after man’s drainage and decimation of the natural environment.”

investing almost $1 billion the state for florida has instituted a research program to correct the growing problem. engineers hope to apply what scientists learn to get water running again where there’s too much of it and let it flow into places where there’s much too little of it, like the everglades national park.