Over the past 50 years, large areas of agricultural land have been drained and put into intensive agricultural production (Hodge and McNally, 2000). This fact holds truth when it's applied to the Florida Everglades. Water to the Everglades is now being delivered by several water control structures. These water control structures are predominantly fed by canals, which obtain water from Lake Okeechobee. This becomes an issue because of the anthropogenic influences around the Lake Okeechobee area. Some examples of human activity are storm water runoff from the nutrient enriched Everglades Agricultural Area, mercury pollution, and invading species (DeAngelis et al., 1998).
One area of the southern Everglades that has been influenced by the agricultural areas of central Florida is Taylor Slough. Currently the S332 and S332D pump supply water to Taylor Slough. The water from the S332 pump shows an overload of nitrogen and phosphorus that is being transported into the system compared with another site to the south of the structure. The quality of the water being delivered suggests that point pollution is present. The impact of water quality point pollution in Taylor Slough affects the ecosystem level processes that happen within the area. The understanding of the changes in the ecosystem level process due to enriched water inputs is crucial for a successful restoration. The objectives of the Taylor Slough monitoring project are to observe nutrient transformations in the water flowing from canals and through the freshwater wetlands of the Southern Everglades, to quantify the potential effects of that water on these wetlands, and to investigate ecological implications for the estuarine wetland zone.