This water allows undesirable imbalances in the ecosystem and will be discussed in detail below. Other issues arise from new land use projects associated with the large urban area to the east that are incompatible with a national wildlife refuge, such as maintaining the water supply and a buffer zone. Because of the large volume of water pumped through the S-5A, this pump contributes the largest load of phosphorus to the Everglades of any of the pump stations. These inflow waters tend to flow easier along the canals, unless the water level across the refuge is very high, which is rare. Thus, the cattails spread deeper into the refuge from the canals and now cover over 6,000 acres.
Cattails are the most visible effect of the nutrient imbalance.
However, many detrimental changes in the abundance and diversity of algae, diatoms, desmids, and other microorganisms have already occurred by the time the cattail problem is evident. LNWR is a party to the Settlement Agreement , signed as a Consent Decree in Federal Court in 1992. STAs are constructed filtration marshes that allow plants and soil to absorb and adsorb excess nutrients and other pollutants. This type of water treatment enhances the filtering abilities of natural marshes without adding harmful chemicals or removing essential elements needed by microorganisms. STA 1 will straddle the north end of the refuge, where pump station S-5A currently is.