Member Spotlights
Alan Steinman AWRI director featured on national television
July 20, 2021
Al Steinman, longtime researcher and professor of water
resources, coastal restoration and climate change, has been appointed
to the National Academy of Sciences committee to oversee Everglades
restoration. Steinman, the Allen and Helen Hunting director of GVSU's
Annis Water Resources Institute, will serve a two-year appointment. He
and 14 other committee members from universities across the country,
including Pennsylvania State, Iowa State, Tulane, Yale, Virginia Tech
and Southern California, will evaluate the progress attached with the
Comprehensive Everglades Research Plan and write a final report to be
submitted to Congress. Their findings will be published in a book.
Evaluating the progress of the research plan is a Congressional
mandate that has taken place for the past 16 years resulting in eight
biennial reviews. Steinman said he has reviewed book chapters, but
this is his first time he’s been asked to serve on the national
committee. “Our findings do carry weight,” he said. “Congress will
review it and there will be testimony afterward. They will evaluate
our findings and determine how to move forward.”
Steinman said restoration of the Everglades is extremely complex
and will likely cost at least $16 billion. The main areas of concern
are the effects of nutrients, climate change and rising sea levels.
“There is way too much phosphorus coming from dairy and cattle farms
into the Everglades,” said Steinman. “The joke in south Florida is
— the difference between a drought and flood is 24 hours. The weather
just changes so dramatically, and the landscape is so flat that water
moves very slowly, making the region very susceptible to both drought
and flooding.” Water flow is heavily managed with a controlled system
of pumps, canals and gates, Steinman explained. The overall goal of
the restoration effort is to try, as much as possible given all the
development that has occurred in south Florida, to restore much of the
landscape to the natural hydrology while controlling nutrients and
invasive species.
View the full story here.
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