Saving A Dying River In South Florida

The major issue is a Water Management District proposal calling for a minimum flow of 35 cubic feet per second of fresh water -- 15,750 gallons per minute -- down the river's Northwest Fork during dry spells. Many of the more than 20 activists who turned out to comment said this amount of freshwater would only hold the line on salt water intrusion, and called for the flow to be boosted. " The river has lost six miles of cypress trees to increasing salinity for a variety of reasons. Development has diced and filled wetlands that once stored water for the river. Canals have carried off some of its runoff, and ocean tides reach farther upriver than they once did."