State officials disagree on how environmentalists have interpreted the new law and rules and say they've made tremendous progress.

Despite Thursday's hoorahs, the reality is the Everglades plan -- the largest and most complex environmental restoration in U.S. history -- still faces some formidable obstacles, not the least of which is the mounting cost.

The restoration already is behind original expectations and is now seen by many environmentalists not as a restoration project but as a massive water-supply plan for the millions of people who live in the southern half of the state.

"As the days and weeks and years go by, it's becoming more and more apparent to everybody that restoration is 20 years off," said Reiner, a Miami lawyer who leads the organization founded in 1969 by Marjorie Stoneman Douglas, the late environmentalist and author most closely associated with the Everglades.

Most people think of the Everglades as a swamp, but it is also a shallow, slow-moving river, unlike any other river on Earth.

That flow has been blocked by levees and roads, drained by canals and diverted to meet the needs of farmers and the unrelenting urban growth of South Florida. The water that used to spill over the banks of Lake Okeechobee is now contained by a massive dike constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers after floods in the 1920s left thousands dead.

With the water under control, the sugar industry blossomed in the rich muck left exposed by the receding swamp.

Nutrients seeping from 500,000 acres of sugar cane, other vegetable farms and new subdivisions have spurred the growth of cattails and other non-native, undesirable plants.

It was the pollution that prompted the U.S. Attorney's Office to sue the state in 1988. The state and federal government reached a settlement, which became the basis of the state's landmark Everglades Forever Act of 1994.

Original deadline 2006

The act called for a massive cleanup, with a major deadline set for 2006, the year water running off of fields would have to meet stricter pollution standards through the use of more environmentally friendly farming practices and the conversion of some farmland into filter marshes.

However, during this year's legislative session, lawmakers amended the law to push that deadline back to 2016.

The new legislation and rules drew criticism from environmentalists, members of Congress and U.S. District Judge William Hoeveler, the 81-year-old jurist who had kept the case on track since the beginning.

Environmentalists are appealing the new rules through the state administrative-hearing process, and some key congressmen have threatened to hold up some of the Everglades money if the state doesn't meet federal expectations.

As for Hoeveler, his published remarks resulted in the sugar industry successfully ousting him from the case last month by arguing that he had shown bias.

Struhs, the state regulator, doesn't put much stock in the criticism from environmentalists, some of whom have called for his resignation. He calls it the standard "background noise that comes with public service."

Henry Dean, executive director of the South Florida Water Management District, says he challenges anyone to show him how the restoration is delayed.

"I'm sort of bemused from the comments by individuals that it's behind schedule," Dean said.

Dean cites the fact that the district has removed almost twice as much phosphorus from the Everglades as called for under the Everglades Forever Act. He also says it's normal for costs to increase over original estimates, especially for long-range projects.

Views differ on schedule

State officials estimate the Southern Golden Gate project is seven years ahead of schedule, the time they figure they would have broken ground if they had waited for the federal government to get the project approved and funded.

However, under the original CERP schedule, the Southern Golden Gate project already would have been under way. One water management district official conceded they are working off a recently revised schedule. Other officials say the original CERP schedule was purely conceptual and didn't present realistic deadlines.

Struhs acknowledges that Southern Golden Gate project was fast-tracked for political reasons as much as environmental ones.

"I said, 'Let's find a project that we can accelerate. Let's take it out of order and let's move it up,' " Struhs said.

Other projects on the horizon include creating huge reservoirs both above and below ground. The idea is that during dry times, water from the reservoirs can be pumped to farms and urban areas.

"There's this old-world view that you either do something for the environment or you do something for the people," Struhs said. "Why can't we do both?"

Manley Fuller, president of the Florida Wildlife Federation, said state officials and the sugar industry have made progress cleaning up the agricultural runoff, but a lot of work remains. One would be foolish to think it will fall into place without a struggle, he said.

"It wasn't as simple as, 'Gee, we passed a bill and now the Everglades are saved,' " Fuller said. "This is a big deal, and it's going to last a long time, so people are going to have to be committed to do this thing right.

"I don't think the general public and the American taxpayers are going to stand for anything less."