Without Delay, SFWMD Begins Work on Everglades Agricultural Area Storage Reservoir
Crews clear site to begin building storage reservoir to reduce estuary discharges, deliver clean water to Everglades
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| SFWMD crews have started clearing the site to build the Everglades Agricultural Area Storage Reservoir. Click on the image to see a larger version. |
South Bay, FL - Today, approximately 18 months after the Florida Legislature and Gov. Rick Scott approved a state law expediting the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) Storage Reservoir, the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) began construction of the project.
SFWMD officials, including Governing Board Chairman Federico Fernandez and Executive Director Ernie Marks, held a ceremony at the site to commemorate the project's rapid start.
"We are moving at lightning speed while fulfilling all the requirements of
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SFWMD Governing Board Chairman Federico Fernandez explains the benefits of the EAA Storage Reservoir. Click on the image for a larger version. |
state law because we know how important this project is to the residents we serve," said Fernandez, a Miami-Dade County resident. "Many times, it can take years to build restoration projects due to unforeseen obstacles and delays. Today, heavy equipment is moving and construction is underway to deliver the reservoir Florida has promised to its taxpayers as soon as possible."
This week, crews began clearing crops and other vegetation from about 560 acres of publicly owned land, commonly known as the A-2 parcel, that will be used to build the EAA Storage Reservoir. At the same time, crews are taking rock from adjacent SFWMD-owned land and staging it on the site as the first phase of reservoir construction.
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:
