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Articles
WGCU’s magazine series examines the polluted and complex lake system, including its effects downstream on the Caloosahatchee River and into Southwest Florida estuaries.
The Essence of the Estuary
Southwest Florida’s estuaries may mark the "end of the line" for the river, but they also serve as the gateways to the oceans beyond.
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Caloosahatchee: Endangered River
The 70-mile-long Caloosahatchee is an important amenity for the communities it traverses, but those same communities need to work together to restore the river’s health.
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The "Big O" Lake Under Siege
The fortification of Lake Okeechobee with dikes saved human life — at a high cost to the rest of South Florida’s environment. Today, the “Big O” is still a popular fishing destination, an uneasy Eden flourishing with plant and animal species from around the world.
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Elusive Solutions
From business executives to politicians, Southwest Floridians are working to correct more than a century of ecological abuse to the Caloosahatchee watershed.
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Part 1
Lake Okeechobee: Big Water, Big Trouble
During the past 125 years of well-intentioned decisions, actions and policies have turned what should have been one of Florida's greatest natural treasures into an environmental villain. Six thousand years after it was formed, residents and agencies across the state are now raising the question: Is it too late for Lake O?
Part 2
The Caloosahatchee: River at a Crossroads
There are really two Caloosahatchee Rivers. The first is a million-year-old serpentine waterway that snaked halfway across the Florida peninsula; the second, a deep, wide, trench gouged by man through the South Florida landscape and called simply C-43. As dissimilar as they are, the two Caloosahatchees have one thing in common – both stand at a crossroads between ruin and resuscitation. The second in our three-part Water Woes series.
Part 3
Southwest Florida’s Estuary Crisis: A Question of Balance
In the estuaries of Southwest Florida, where the timeless Caloosahatchee River ends its journey and its fresh water mingles with the salty Gulf of Mexico, the forces of man and nature sometimes team up to upset the delicate balance that sustains those estuaries, imperiling these incubators of life itself. The final episode of our three-part Water Woes series.
Part 4
Elusive Solutions
The fourth episode of the “Water Woes” series, this documentary focuses on what is being considered -- and done -- to solve the major water problems facing Southwest Florida. From the Kissimee River Basin to Sanibel, the show chronicles efforts on behalf of policymakers, water managers and citizens -- from federal to local levels -- to avert an ecological doomsday.
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