EAA Reservoir is a giant step forward for South Florida
When ground is broken for the new Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) Reservoir this week, it will signal the turning of a new page in the decades-long effort to restore America’s Everglades. It will have a profound effect on every person in South Florida.
The EAA Reservoir has occupied much of my professional career. In 2000, I was privileged to work with the late former U.S. Rep. E. Clay Shaw of Fort Lauderdale, who spearheaded the passage of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP). It was to be the biggest ecosystem restoration project in history.
Among CERP’s 68 named projects was a reservoir south of Lake
Okeechobee that would be large enough to store and clean polluted water from the lake so it could be sent south to recharge South Florida’s drinking water aquifer and rehydrate the Everglades and Florida Bay.
In 2016, The Everglades Foundation led a 12-day, 22-city “Now or Neverglades” bus tour that raised awareness of the need for the reservoir. We recruited tens of thousands of Everglades advocates who demanded action.
They did so because Lake Okeechobee’s water is what scientists call “nutrient rich,” meaning that it is laden with phosphorus and nitrogen from fertilizers, agricultural waste and the seepage from septic tanks. When the lake approaches flood stage, water managers are forced to flush thousands of gallons into the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie rivers, with the nutrients that fuel algae blooms that are hazardous to humans, pets and wildlife.
Residents of Florida’s coastal communities are all too familiar with these smelly, unsightly mats of algae that shut down fishing and close beaches. In 2016, the algae put St. Lucie and Martin counties under a 242-day state of emergency as thousands of rotting fish washed up on closed beaches and nearby residents gagged from the stench.
Once completed, the 16-squaremile EAA Reservoir will store water until it can be pumped in batches into a 10-square mile stormwater treatment area that will remove the excess nutrients. Instead of being flushed out to sea, the water will be safely sent south to hydrate the Everglades, recharge drinking water aquifers and, ultimately, restore the freshwater balance to Florida Bay.
Together with other projects that are already underway, the new reservoir will reduce the damaging discharge volume by 55% and will send an annual average of 370,000 acre-feet of clean water south.
Getting to Wednesday’s groundbreaking has been a 22-year effort, but one that will be worth it.
Reducing the number of harmful algae blooms caused by Lake Okeechobee discharges is critical to Florida’s economy and to our environment. It is a crucial component of Everglades restoration and will revive vanishing habitats for more than 70 federally threatened and endangered species.
Sending clean freshwater south will also replenish the water supply for 9 million people in South Florida.
A groundbreaking is not the same as a ribbon-cutting, and there is still plenty of work to be done before the EAA Reservoir is operational. Nevertheless, Wednesday’s event is a big step forward for Florida’s economy, our water quality and America’s Everglades.