Natural cure to water quality crisis comes with uphill battle

Driving through one of Florida’s man-made wetlands doesn’t feel like a man-made experience at all.

It feels like a day in the Everglades, with similar plant and wildlife and tourists and recreation seekers from all over the world.

The wetlands are known as stormwater treatment areas, or STAs, clean phosphorous out of water coming out of agricultural areas.

The South Florida Water Management district maintains 57,000 acres of STA’s south of Lake Okeechobee and north of Everglades National Park. They cost Florida taxpayers around 2 billion dollars over the last 25 years.

But the district and leading environmental scientists say it was money well spent.