From Treasure Coast Newspapers, April 20, 2020, by Tyler Treadway
Work began Monday on the long-awaited project to curtail damaging Lake Okeechobee discharges to the St. Lucie River and Caloosahatchee River 
estuaries.
The South Florida Water Management District got the green light to start building the man-made marsh section of the Everglades Agricultural Area Reservoir Project when the Army Corps of Engineers approved a permit for the project late Friday.
“We did it,” said Chauncey Goss, chairman of the district’s board who joined the construction team Monday at the site. “Today, I’m proud to report that work begins on the EAA Reservoir Project. Its benefits to our estuaries and the Everglades are finally within sight.”
Known as an STA, the 6,500-acre man-made marsh will clean water as it leaves the reservoir and heads toward Everglades National Park and Florida Bay.
The district will build the STA and the Corps will build the 10,100-acre reservoir, with 37-foot walls and a capacity to hold up to 78.2 billion gallons of excess lake water.
The STA is expected to be completed by December 2023, although parts of it could be pressed into service earlier, much like the district has done with the STA at a project along the C-44 Canal in western Martin County.
Corps officials have told TCPalm the reservoir should be completed in 2028.
Link to project updates from South Florida Water Management District