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SFWMD Testing What it Calls Emergency Estuary Protection Wells

Screenshot from SFWMD Video
The Florida Channel
Leon County Judge John Cooper on June 30, 2022, in a screen grab from The Florida Channel.

Last week the South Florida Water Management District Governing Board approved a plan to move forward with testing of what it calls Emergency Estuary Protection Wells, which it says could reduce the need for ecologically damaging discharges to the coastal estuaries from Lake Okeechobee. The wells would use deep injection technology to pump water about 3,000 feet below ground into the what’s known as the "boulder zone." According to a district press release, the wells would only be used during high water emergency situations like the one we’re currently facing. But, critics say the wells are a bad idea that could have harmful impacts on the state's freshwater drinking supply. We’re joined by Ansley Marr, Section Administrator for the Northern Everglades at the South Florida Water Management District to learn more.

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Julie Glenn is the host of Gulf Coast Live. She has been working in southwest Florida as a freelance writer since 2007, most recently as a regular columnist for the Naples Daily News. She began her broadcasting career in 1993 as a reporter/anchor/producer for a local CBS affiliate in Quincy, Illinois. After also working for the NBC affiliate, she decided to move to Parma, Italy where she earned her Master’s degree in communication from the University of Gastronomic Sciences. Her undergraduate degree in Mass Communication is from the University of Missouri at Kansas City.
Mike Kiniry is producer of Gulf Coast Live, and co-creator and host of the WGCU podcast Three Song Stories: Biography Through Music. He first joined the WGCU team in the summer of 2003 as an intern while studying Communication at Florida Gulf Coast University.