Water quality speakers come together to discuss “Have we missed the boat?”

For the finale of "Ding" Darling Wildlife Society's "Soak-It-In Speaker Series" Dec. 2, a panel of local water quality pros examined the history of Southwest Florida's water issues and discussed steps of what can be done help clear up the state's water quality woes.

Cara Capp, Everglades Coalition restoration program manager, discussed the history of the Everglades and said that the area was actually once a lot larger than its current state.

"Everglades National Park is just a small portion of the ecosystem that once was. The historic Everglades was bigger than the state of New Jersey. It started north of what is now Disney World in the meandering Kissimmee River, it would deposit into Lake Okeechobee, the liquid heart of our state, and gently spill over the entire southern border. This historic flow was the perfect nature purification system for the water. As it traveled south to the southern Everglades and out from Florida Bay, the plants would remove any nutrients from the water so that every single drop that entered the Florida Bay down in the Keys was pristine. That's why our ecosystem is so biodiverse. There is no other Everglades in the world because this system was developed over many years by nature, " Capp said.