Florida Bay/Florida Keys
Feasibility Study Home

Florida Bay

Located at the southern tip of the Florida peninsula and covers about 850 square miles, including 700 square miles within Everglades National Park.

Florida Bay is a semi-enclosed coastal water body bounded on the north and east by the southern mainland of the Florida peninsula, on the south by the Florida Keys, and opening into the Gulf of Mexico on the west. Along the eastern portion of the keys, limited exchange between the Florida Bay and the Florida Straits occurs through passages between the keys. Along the northern boundary, the open waters of the bay are separated from the Everglades by mangrove swamps with open water regions.

Current Conditions

The Florida Bay ecosystem is under extensive stress due to decades of increased nutrient loads along its northern boundary.

Although the nutrient loading along the northern boundary has increased, the net fresh water inflow has decreased due to large-scale anthropogenic diversion of much of the natural southward flow through the Everglades to the southeast coast of the Florida mainland.

Purpose

The Florida Bay/Florida Keys Feasibility Study web site is provided for the development of a Florida Bay/Florida Keys Hydrodynamic and Water Quality Model. This site will be linked to the Environmental Fluid Dynamics Computer Code (EFDC - See About EFDC) Web Board.

The development and application of a coupled hydrodynamic and water quality modeling system for Florida Bay is essential in the scientific identification of cause and effect relationships between freshwater inflow and nutrient loading and ecosystem health and stability. A scientifically defensible, calibrated and verified system is also essential to support decision relative to alternative long-term management strategies.

CERP and Florida Bay

Reversing ecosystem decline and re-establishment of a healthy stable ecosystem in Florida Bay is one of the major objectives of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan.