Q&A of the Day – Phase 1 Of the Lake O’ EAA Reservoir Project Is Complete. What Does it Mean?
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Today’s Entry: Hey Brian. I know you've actively covered the Lake Okeechobee discharge developments. Can you tell us what the impact of the first cell being completed will be? Will there be a visible difference in the waterways? Thanks for considering the topic.
Bottom Line: Last Thursdays ribbon cutting ceremony for the completion of the first phase of the southern reservoir project was more than symbolic, it was the most substantive step in the Everglades Restoration Project yet. And what’s good for the Everglades, is good for all of Florida’s waterways. Effectively, starting with Florida Governor Napoleon Bonaparte Broward’s unsuccessful effort to drain the Everglades for the purpose of development in early years of the previous century, every major water management project in the state of Florida was severely flawed from an environmental and sustainability perspective. That included the initial building of the Herbert Hoover Lake O’ dike which created a need for unnatural eastern and western canals to be used for discharges of water. It was the ultimate irony. Florida’s waterways and beaches were the state’s best assets and officials spent decades manipulating them – thinking in the process that they could handle nature better than nature, which of course backfired. Over the past two decades efforts have focused on attempting to undo the damage that had previously been done. The challenge in getting there has been extensive.
There had been four key cogs that slowed the progress of Everglades Restoration efforts. 1) Development and business interests that used the existing manipulated footprint 2) The federal government 3) The state government 4) Local governments. Basically, all of those constituencies had to get on the same page at the same time, with the same plan for meaningful restoration efforts to take place. Agricultural interests never did really get on board with the plan, however Governor DeSantis led on the issue including the replacement of the board of the South Florida Water Management District which had largely been beholden to the ag industry over other considerations. Congressman Brian Mast took the lead in Congress to propose and to pass the needed legislation to get the federal government on board and local governments began work with the state to put the plan in place.
The first key piece of the puzzle was the raising Tamiami Trail. In 1928, the Tamiami Trail was built as a flat road which cutoff the natural flow of water south through the Everglades past that point for a 25-mile stretch. An early phase of the Everglades Restoration Plan called for the raising of that stretch of road to once again allow for the natural southern flow of water through the Everglades and into Florida Bay. That was completed in August of 2021. That paved the path for the Army Corps of Engineers to reprioritize discharges from Lake Okeechobee which was incorporated into their updated operating plan. In the most recent week of discharges, for example, 32% of the discharged water from Lake ‘O has been sent south minimizing east-west discharges out of Lake Okeechobee. But the next big phase of the project is the just completed first cell of the EAA Southern Reservoir. As was noted by the state last Thursday with the completion of the first of three phases... The EAA Reservoir is the crown jewel of Everglades restoration, and will help move water south which nourishes the Everglades, replenishes Florida’s aquifers and supports the Florida Bay. Additionally, the reservoir will help to reduce harmful discharges to the St. Lucie River, the Caloosahatchee River and the Lake Worth Lagoon.
What will soon start happening is that water which would otherwise be discharged east and west out of Lake Okeechobee will be sent into the reservoir where it will be purified and then released south into the Everglades. And that takes us to today’s questions about the impact. At the time the reservoir project commenced the South Florida Water Management District estimated its capacity when fully online will further reduce east-west discharges by 55% with 120 billion gallons of water redirected south through the reservoir. The first phase that was completed last week was the Stormwater Treatment Area for the reservoir. This is where the water stored in the reservoir will be purified prior to being released. Its footprint is 6,500 acres of the entire 16,600-acre project. The other two cells will take a lot more time to complete – the current estimate for final completion of the project stands at six years (though this first phase finished 12 months ahead of schedule). So, regarding whether they’ll have a noticeable impact soon. The answer is probably.
We’ve been told that by this summer this just completed first cell will be filled with water. While the cells are being undertaken in thirds, this first phase was the biggest phase of the project – representing 39% of the capacity of the entire reservoir. Using the original estimates from the South Florida Water Management District, the implication is that once fully utilized there will be a 22% reduction in east-west discharges over what we’ve seen. That’s enough that should lead to a noticeable difference in waterways. Observationally, there’s been steady improvement and a noticeable difference in water quality in canals and waterways over the past two years with the increase in southern flowing water. This should represent another significant step in that direction. The wildcard is how much rainfall we have this year, it has already been an extremely wet “dry season” with Lake O’ levels about a foot and a half higher for this time of year than usual. But regardless, our waterways will be better off than they’d otherwise have been.