Lake Okeechobee reservoir to curb discharges gets DEP approval; SFWMD board votes Thursday

The state said a proposed reservoir project to cut Lake Okeechobee discharges not only will sufficiently clean water sent south to the Everglades — but that it must.

In a 12-page order, Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Noah Valenstein said the project will meet criteria for "water supply, water quality, flood protection, threatened and endangered species and other natural system and habitat needs."

MORE: Read DEP's secretarial order

The order states the South Florida Water Management District's plan for a 10,100-acre, 23-foot-deep reservoir and a 6,500-acre stormwater treatment area will clean excess Lake O water well enough to meet federal standards set for Everglades National Park.

"The district has adequately demonstrated that all applicable water quality issues have been analyzed and evaluated," the order states, and water flowing out of the project "will meet the applicable water quality based effluent limit."

MORE: District chooses plan for reservoir project

Water quality standards

Several environmental groups have said the project's stormwater treatment area is too small to clean water to federally mandated standards.

Some of those critics take heart in the order's statement that "additional actions to meet water quality requirements must be undertaken" if federal standards aren't met.

"It not only says that what the district has proposed will work, it says it has to work," said Celeste De Palma, Everglades policy director for Audubon Florida. "I think that's a strong statement."

MORE: District inflates project's water cleaning ability, foundation says

The order is a commitment the state will "undertake additional activities" to achieve water quality standards rather than accept reduced benefits from the project, said Everglades Foundation CEO Eric Eikenberg.

Cutting discharges

Combined with other water projects under construction and in the planning stage, the proposed reservoir will cut the volume of Lake O discharges by about 56 percent and the number of discharge events by 63 percent, according to a district analysis.

At the same time, the project is expected to help increase water flows to the Everglades to about 120 billion gallons a year, according to the DEP.

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The district board is expected to approve the project design at a meeting Thursday, then submit it to the head of the Army Corps of Engineers by the March 30 deadline set by the state law authorizing the reservoir project.

The Corps is expected to evaluate the plan and submit it to Congress next fall. If Congress approves, the state and federal governments will split the $1.34 billion cost, less than the $1.8 billion cost estimated in the law state legislators approved last year.

“We must come together and speak as one to ensure congressional authorization of this vital project," Eikenberg said in a prepared statement.

If you go

What: South Florida Water Management District board meeting

When: 9 a.m. Thursday

Where: B-1 auditorium, district headquarters, 3301 Gun Club Road, West Palm Beach

Agenda: Read the board's agenda