David Struhs, secretary of the state's Department of Environmental Protection, says the plan is to pump the water 800 feet down into a layer of limestone. It could then be retrieved, treated to existing federal drinking-water standards and used to keep Everglades National Park and the other marshlands south of Lake Okeechobee wet. This water wouldn't be used for supplying municipalities, Struhs said in an interview, but would indirectly help by keeping the pressure up in underwater aquifers. That would keep seawater from intruding and polluting the water sources of coastal towns. The Environmental Protection Agency, which normally requires that water pumped into the ground be treated beforehand, hasn't given formal approval to Florida's plan.
Some critics call the proposal, which preceded the drought, a threat to health and the environment.
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