Army Corps approves reservoir to cut Lake Okeechobee discharges; what happens next?

Ali Schmitz , Tyler Treadway | Treasure Coast Newspapers

Show Caption Hide Caption Video: How a drop of water at Disney can pollute the St. Lucie River Here's why that Lake O reservoir is necessary. DACIA JOHNSON/TCPALM

A plan to build a reservoir south of Lake Okeechobee to reduce toxic discharges was approved Wednesday afternoon by the Army Corps of Engineers and hand-delivered to Congress.

The plan now can be included in the federal Water Resources and Development Act, the list of water projects throughout the country to be done by the Corps.

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson announced the news via Twitter.

Good news in the fight against these algae blooms: The Army Corps just approved the EAA reservoir project that will help clean more water from Lake O and send it south, instead of east and west. Now with Corps’ okay, we can work to get this project approved by Congress this year. — Senator Bill Nelson (@SenBillNelson) July 11, 2018

Here's what happens next:

Because the House approved the WRDA bill in June, with a placeholder for the reservoir pending the Corps' approval, the project can be added to the bill.

WRDA is pending Senate approval. Because its version of the bill also has a placeholder for the reservoir, that language must be replaced with the actual authorization prior to a vote, which is expected later this month.

Assuming the House and Senate bills aren't exactly alike, both will go to a conference committee to come up with a compromise bill.

Both chambers will vote on the final bill.

President Donald Trump is expected to sign it into law.

Federal funding will have to be part of an upcoming appropriations bill.

The federal government is supposed to pay half the estimated $1.6 billion project cost.

The project designed by the South Florida Water Management District and submitted to the Corps in late March includes a 10,100-acre reservoir and 6,500-acre man-made marsh.

More: Reservoir plan submitted to Army Corps of Engineers

The project could be fully designed and built in seven to nine years, district Executive Director Ernie Marks told legislators in January.

More: Lake Okeechobee reservoir could be completed in 7-9 years, SFWMD chief says

District engineers say the project will be able to reduce discharges to both the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers by 63 percent and send more than 120 billion gallons of clean water south to the Everglades each year.

The Florida Legislature and Gov. Rick Scott approved the reservoir plan pushed by Senate President Joe Negron, a Stuart Republican, in May 2017.

Water management district engineers immediately went to work on the design. Some environmentalists objected, saying the project should be bigger. But district officials countered no property owners in the area were willing to sell their land or swap it for state-owned land elsewhere, and the legislation didn't allow taking land by eminent domain.

Most environmental groups got behind the district's plan as the best option available.

More: Rivers Coalition backs reservoir to cut Lake O discharges

An independent peer review by Battelle Memorial Institute confirmed the project would "improve the quantity, quality, timing and distribution of water flows" to the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers, Everglades National Park and Florida Bay.

More: Review gives reservoir plan thumbs up

The Corps' action comes more than a month after Lake Okeechobee discharges began June 1, although the releases have been suspended since July 1.

Still, more than 25 billion gallons of Lake O water has entered the St. Lucie River estuary at Stuart, and the water brought toxic blue-green algae from the lake with it.

Several algae blooms in the estuary have tested positive for very low levels of toxins, particularly microcystin.

On Tuesday, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection reported a bloom on the upstream side of the St. Lucie Lock and Dam, the conduit for Lake O water sent to the St. Lucie, had microcystin levels 15 times what the World Health Organization considers hazardous in recreational contact.