ARTICLE REFERENCE: South Florida Water Management District Lays out plans for Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) Storage reservoir project

EAA Without Delay

The SFWMD is working hard to continue accelerating the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) Storage Reservoir. A component of the state-federal Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP), the project will send clean water south to the parched Southern Everglades and Florida Bay while reducing damaging discharge events from Lake Okeechobee to the east and west coasts. The reservoir is anticipated to hold 240,000 acre-feet of water and include a new constructed treatment wetland, known as a Stormwater Treatment Area, to provide additional water quality benefits.

Gov. Ron DeSantis made expediting the completion of the EAA Storage Reservoir a key priority with one of his first executive orders, Achieving More Now For Florida’s Environment . The order instructs SFWMD to start the next phase of design work on the project and ensure the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers approves the project according to schedule.

SFWMD is working to fulfill that direction expeditiously by:

• Starting full design work of the A-2 STA as early as June 2019. Preliminary design work on the site has already begun.
• Working to obtain permits for early site preparation work.
• Expediting the design of the inflow canal that will bring water diverted from Lake Okeechobee to the reservoir and STA. Expediting the design will allow construction of the canal to begin as soon as site preparation work is completed.
• Surveying canals to expedite the design of canal improvements needed for the conveyance of water to the site.

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