A R K Quality, quantity, timing, and distribution of water are critical to the everglades and its wildlife.
Water management is one of the most critical environmental issues facing Everglades National Park.
The everglades watershed originates in the central Florida Kissimmee River basin north of Lake Okeechobee. Summer thunderstorms would flood this region, the big lake, and extensive areas of everglades marsh. This created a shallow, wide river which flowed slowly south through the everglades to the mangrove estuaries of the Gulf of Mexico. The summer rains would then give way to a six month dry season. During the past 100 years this river has been altered by people.