EAA WITHOUT DELAY

SFWMD Starts Subsurface Investigation Work to Build Everglades Agricultural Area Storage Reservoir

Geotechnical work necessary for design helps expedite reservoir to reduce estuary discharges and improve flow of clean water to Everglades

Crews have begun drilling borings as part of geotechnical surveying work at the site of the proposed Everglades Agricultural Area Storage Reservoir. The work will help expedite design of the reservoir. Click on the image to see a larger version.

South Bay, FL - The South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) this week is hard at work drilling borings under the ground of what will become the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) Storage Reservoir to expedite the completion of the project.

 

"We are moving without delay to build this reservoir and fulfill the promise made by the Florida Legislature and Gov. Rick Scott to residents through Senate Bill 10," said SFWMD Governing Board Chairman Federico Fernandez. "Last month we began expedited site work by having bulldozers clear the area, this month our teams have started critical geotechnical surveying all in an effort to build this reservoir as quickly as possible."

 

Crews are conducting geotechnical surveying including drilling 20 borings 50-80 feet deep along the alignment of the proposed levees around the reservoir. The borings will help determine the exact composition of the soil and rock beneath the reservoir land, allowing SFWMD to complete design of the project. Last month, the District began its work to clear 560 acres on the site for construction and over the next month will begin the installation of culverts, as well as improvement to haul roads that will be used to begin moving rock on to the site for the eventual construction of the project's levees.

 

About the EAA Storage Reservoir

Through an extensive, scientific-based process consisting of modeling and public meetings, SFWMD staff created the plan for the EAA Storage Reservoir. Together with authorized projects, the EAA Storage Reservoir will send an annual average of approximately 370,000 additional acre-feet of clean water south to the Everglades that will be protected by rule or reservation to benefit the natural system. It will also reduce the number of damaging discharge events from Lake Okeechobee to the northern estuaries by 63 percent when used in conjunction with authorized projects.

 

Additional flows south to the Everglades that are proposed in the plan will be treated in a new 6,500-acre Stormwater Treatment Area (STA) in combination with existing STAs and Flow Equalization Basins (FEBs), such as the A-1 FEB, to achieve state water quality standards. The reservoir will store 240,000 acre-feet of water on the site comprised of the District-owned A-2 parcel and lands to the west as identified in Senate Bill 10. The EAA Storage Reservoir will work in conjunction with Gov. Rick Scott's Restoration Strategies for a total of 350,000 acre-feet of storage south of Lake Okeechobee.

 

To read additional information related to the EAA Storage Reservoir or for modeling data and more information on the previously held meetings, including agendas and presentations, visit www.sfwmd.gov/eaareservoir.

 

For more updates on SFWMD's work: