Wlrn | Presents

If you scoop a glassful of water from the heart of the Everglades, that water is as pure and clear as the water that flows from your tap. That’s because chances are good your tap water comes from the Everglades. One in three Floridians -- more than eight million of us -- gets drinking water from the Biscayne Aquifer a few feet below the southeastern Everglades. The ecosystem acts as a natural filter, removing excess nutrients and keeping out seawater. But the Everglades are under siege. Half of ‘the river of grass’ already has been lost; more is dying off. And as the aboveground ecosystem slips away, so does our underground fresh water. To understand why, you have to understand how the Everglades used to work. Call it ‘Everglades 101.’ Coconut Grove resident and POLITICO journalist Michael Grunwald wrote The Swamp: The Politics of Paradise . It’s a history of the Everglades and restoration efforts. And after years of research and reporting, Grunwald can summarize how the ecosystem used