The southern reservoir – the highly-touted solution to the discharges coming from Lake Okeechobee – is a step closer to fruition after U.S. House action last week, but remains 10 to 20 years down the line.
In the meantime, discharges continue to be released from the lake into the St. Lucie River and, ultimately, into the Indian River Lagoon.
And while environmentalists, health professionals and even the weekend water warriors decry the discharges, little if any of the lake’s water ends up in Port St. Lucie or St. Lucie County. According to the South Florida Water Management District, which verified what spokespeople from the city and county told St. Lucie Voice, Lake O’s discharges go out the St. Lucie Canal – C-44 – and flow into the South Fork of the St. Lucie River.
From there, the water dumps into the Stuart Inlet in Martin County.
The U.S. House of Representatives recently approved its Water Resources Development Act, which includes a placeholder for the proposed reservoir. That placeholder is expected to be replaced with language calling for the reservoir, as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers envisions.
“The Army Corps’ discharges from Lake Okeechobee, which started again … are unacceptable,” U.S. Rep. Brian Mast said in a statement released last week. “Our community cannot afford more devastation. We cannot afford a status quo that prioritizes everyone else’s interests over ours.
“Passage of this bill brings us one step closer to getting the southern storage reservoir built and includes other major wins that will help prevent toxic algae. No longer will Congress fail to act when the situation is so dire!”
Later this summer, the U.S. Senate is expected to take up the Water Resources Development Act. If approved, it would find its way to President Donald Trump’s desk for signing.
“It would significantly reduce the damaging discharges” from Lake Okeechobee, said Matt Morrison, the Water Management District’s federal policy and coordination bureau chief.
Morrison said that once the president signs the act, one of two schedules will be followed, depending on funding.
The fast-track schedule of 10 years for the design and construction hinges on all of the funding going through from all of the participating agencies – including those at the state and federal levels – at the requested amounts.
The slower, 20-year schedule is “more consistent” with the funding currently being received for everglades restoration.
Morrison explained the reservoir would be used to hold the discharged water, which would be cleaned through the stormwater retention process before being released south into the everglades.
The plan currently calls for a 10,100-acre reservoir, 23 feet deep. It would be able to store an estimated 78.2 billion gallons of water from Lake O.
A constructed marsh would be scrub the water before being released to the everglades.
