Water lilies in bloom. As beautiful as they appear, water lilies choked the inland waterways of Flotida, impeding steamboat traffic on the St. Johns River as early as the 1870’s. Water lilies remain as obstructions on the drainage canals throughout Florida in the 21st century. Every water management district implements a plan on a continuing basis to utilize environmentally safe methods of controlling these fast propagating plants such as herbicide sprays, choppers, and scrapers. Uncontrolled plant propagation can easily clog expensive water control gates and other sophisticated electronic means to control the flow of water throughout Florida’s intricate drainage canal system.
Florida’s Big Dig 