When I picture environmental restoration, I sit in awe of the reservoirs and maze of canals that crisscross the lush landscape and feed clean water into Everglades National Park, and I stand behind the cutting-edge science and engineering that ensures all these components mesh to improve the quality of life for Florida families.
As chairman of the South Florida Water Management District's Governing Board, I know the best way to achieve our restoration goals is to follow the publicly vetted plan. For Everglades restoration, that's the Integrated Delivery Schedule, complemented by Gov. Rick Scott's restoration strategies. The IDS guides restoration efforts so that projects are completed in a way that benefits all Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan efforts. This provides predictability in budgeting money and transparency in investing billions of tax dollars.
Significant progress is being made. Take, for instance, the C-43 and C-44 reservoirs under construction to capture water to protect the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers and estuaries. Both are enormous projects, costing nearly a billion dollars. The 170,000-acre-foot C-43 project will store and deliver water to the Caloosahatchee at the right times. The C-44 will store and clean water before it reaches the St. Lucie, providing enough storage to fill Spaceship Earth at Walt Disney World's Epcot more than 1,000 times. The C-44 reservoir is expected to be completed by 2020; the C-43 reservoir by 2022.
Stormwater Treatment Area 1 West is doubling its effective treatment area to further reduce phosphorus in Everglades-bound water. Phase 1 is scheduled to be done in December 2018 at a cost of $79.8 million.
The Bolles Canal in the Everglades Agricultural Area is being upgraded to move water more flexibly into wetlands to improve water quality before it reaches Everglades National Park. The $3.8 million project will be done early next year.
A steadfast commitment to the restoration schedule and completing projects is truly how environmental restoration gets accomplished.
Dan O'Keefe, Orlando
The writer is governing board chairman of the South Florida Water Management District.
