Work on Everglades reservoir begins with marsh-like water treatment area
Workers have started excavating the site of a stormwater treatment area south of Lake Okeechobee that’s part of a massive $1.6 billion reservoir meant to clean polluted water before it reaches the Everglades.
The 6,500-acre marsh-like water treatment area is also designed to reduce dirty water discharges to the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee estuaries. In 2018, polluted water from the lake fueled slimy green algae blooms on both rivers and contributed to a red tide that littered the Gulf Coast with dead fish.
Gov. Ron DeSantis, the South Florida Water Management District and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection announced the start of construction Thursday, after the project received the required federal permit.
“Beginning construction means we are a big step closer to moving more clean water south to the Everglades and lessening harmful discharges from Lake Okeechobee into the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie estuaries,” DeSantis said in a statement.
The reservoir is one of the most important Everglades restoration projects as it’s expected to improve water quality flowing south through Shark Valley in Everglades National Park, taking much-needed fresh water all the way south to Florida Bay.
Water in Lake O has a high concentration of nutrients because of runoff from surrounding agricultural lands, septic tanks and storm-water reservoirs from nearby urban areas. The lake is also a gatekeeper between the watershed in the north and the southern Everglades.
This story was originally published April 30, 2020 at 6:33 PM.
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