NEWS NOTES ON SUSTAINABLE WATER RESOURCES Everglades Progress Water Science and Technology Board, Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades, Sixth Biennial Review , National Academy of Sciences, 2016. https://www.nap.edu/download/23672 For a free download of this report, go to the web site and sign in as a guest. The size of the file is about 22 M. South Florida is blessed with a unique, wonderfully diverse, and geographically extensive, wetland ecosystem reaching from south of Orlando to the Florida Keys. After nearly 150 years of drainage, channelization and flood control actions, this extraordinary natural resource has been dramatically altered and continues to decline. Where water once traveled slowly south toward the Everglades National Park through ridge and slough wetlands, marl prairies and sawgrass plains, it is now often diverted to the ocean or to other uses—less than half ever reaches its historic destination. The quality of the water remaining in the system is compromised by the phosphorus, nitrogen, mercury and other contaminants introduced by urban development, agriculture, and industry. The combination of reduced water flow and degraded water quality impacts has adversely changed land formation and vegetation patterns. Experts recognized over 20 years ago that significant action was needed to preserve and maintain this national wetland resource. This sixth iteration of Committee on Independent Scientific Review of Everglades Restoration Progress, includes a mix of science and engineering specialists brought together for their combined expertise in environmental, biological, hydrologic, and geographic sciences; systems engineering; project and program administration; law; economics; and public policy. These experts were selected for their eminence in their fields, as well as their experience with complex, natural systems similar to the Everglades. The committee deliberations were always constructive, collegial, and professional—the positive spirit and good humor contributed to an especially enjoyable collaboration process. This 2016 report is a truly consensus committee product documenting the most critical factors in the successful completion of the program. This study will also be linked on the 2017 Reports and Publications Page of the Sustainable Water Resources Site at https://sites.google.com/site/sustainablewaterresources/">https://sites.google.com/site/sustainablewaterresources/ Tim Smith Sustainable Water Resources Coordinator Government Web Site, https://acwi.gov/ Sustainable Water Resources Site, https://sites.google.com/site/sustainablewaterresources/">https://sites.google.com/site/sustainablewaterresources/