EAA Reservoir Needs Redesign to Minimize Harmful Lake Okeechobee Discharges
Position Statement of the Guardians of Martin County
This position paper is written by our Board member Jay O’Laughlin, Ph.D., a policy scientist with extensive experience in studying ways to protect the natural environment and our clean water supply.
*Paper updated February 14, 2018*
Position
The Guardians of Martin County find the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) preferred alternative for the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) Reservoir project to be sub- optimal.and insufficient to ensure survival of the Indian River Lagoon. The project needs to be redesigned so that the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) goal of reducing by 80% the discharges of excess Lake Okeechobee water to the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee estuaries can be attained. The SFWMD estimates that its preferred alternative (C240A) will reduce discharge volumes by 55% when all approved projects have been constructed.
The Guardians continue to strongly support the construction of a water storage reservoir in the EAA, but it must have adequate areas for water quality treatment before water can be sent south of the EAA. Every gallon of water sent south is a gallon that is not discharged into the northern estuaries. More than 35,000 acres of additional land is needed to meet the CERP discharge goal. There is an adequate amount of land owned by the state in the vicinity of the reservoir project area to do that. But because these lands are designated as wildlife management areas, Florida’s executive agencies have thus far been reluctant to consider repurposing these lands.
Read and download the rest of the position paper here: