my name is melissa meeker, and i am executive director of the south florida water management district. this agency is one of five regional agencies create to ensure a sustainable supply of water for florida citizens, environment and economy. in south florida this responsibility includes operating one of the world's largest flood control systems which protects 7.7 million people and delivers 1.4 billion gallons of water each day to support urban and agricultural uses. florida's water challenge is not necessarily a lack of water. nearly two-thirds of our fresh water supplied by vast underground aquifers and florida receives 3 receives 53 inches of rainfall a year. we have challenges. storage, florida is a flat landscape. and that means we have an inability to really capture and store rain water for future use. it's extremely limited. as a result, an average of 1.7 billion gallons of discharged daily through our canal systems to tide. our second damage is weather extremes. florida is affected by tropical storms and hurricanes as well as extensive droughts and water shortages. just this y