WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - The South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) continues expediting progress on key priority projects identified by Gov. Ron DeSantis to restore and project South Florida's environment and water resources. Today, SFWMD applied for permits from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Florida Department of Environmental Protection necessary to construct the C-139 Flow Equalization Basin (FEB).
Implementing Governor Ron DeSantis' "Achieving More Now For Florida's Environment" Executive Order that called on the District
to expedite key environmental restoration projects,
SFWMD is actively working to accelerate this project to bring the FEB online as quickly as possible.
The permit applications were submitted more than a year ahead of schedule.
The C-139 FEB, an 11,000-acre shallow reservoir, will store local basin runoff from the C-139 Basin and control the flow of that water to the adjacent Stormwater Treatment Area 5/6 (STA 5/6). This will help improve the performance of STA 5/6, removing nutrients from stormwater and improving the quality of the water before it flows south to Everglades National Park and Florida Bay.
The project is part of the Restoration Strategies Plan created in 2012 to complete the restoration of Everglades water quality.
The permit applications filed today ask the state and federal permitting agencies to start review of SFWMD's preliminary designs for the project. In addition to filing the permit application, SFWMD has also been stockpiling soil on the site from another nearby project involving STA 5/6. That soil will be used for the construction of the C-139 FEB.
SFWMD will start construction of the C-139 FEB by January 2021 and expects to complete the project by December 2023.
To read more about all of this and other key environmental restoration projects being expedited by SFWMD, visit
sfwmd.gov/AchieveMoreNow.
For more updates on SFWMD's work:
