The Water Resource Atlas of Florida: Inspiration, Organization, Production

Abstract

The Water Resources Atlas Qi Florida (Fernald and Patton 1984), published by the Institute of Science and Public Affairs, Florida State University, was the culmination of three years of work by staff members of the Florida Resources and Environmental Analysis Center within the Institute and experts on fresh water from throughout the state. Edited by Edward A. Fernald and Donald J. Patton, the atlas cost an estimated $450,000 to produce and was funded by a state appropriation through the Florida Department of Environmental Regulation and from sales of the Atlas of Florida (Fernald 1981). The project assumed it to be valid and desirable for a public organization---in this case a university---to present the vast amount of information that government agencies collect and to return it to the public in an accessible and attractive way.