Reservoir project shifts focus to water treatment component

The $1 billion Caloosahatchee River reservoir remains a main mission for area water managers, even with a virus outbreak.

One of the next steps toward getting Lee County's largest Everglades restoration project operational is developing a water quality component that was mandated last year by Gov. Ron DeSantis. 

The reservoir, often called C-43, is expected to be operational in 2023, but first state and federal agencies must design, approve and build a 5,000-acre water treatment facility to make sure the water will be clean enough to be released back into the river. 

And the state and federal agencies in charge of permitting, constructing, maintaining and operating the project want input from the public before moving forward. 

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The South Florida Water Management District hosted an online meeting last week to talk about the reservoir and to reach out for public comment. For more information, go to https://www.sfwmd.gov/content/c43waterqualitystudy .

The reservoir is under construction but the treatment component is still at the feasibility study level. 

That study is expected to be completed later this year. 

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The Caloosahatchee reservoir is a 10,000-acre compound that's being building just inside Hendry County along the south side of the river. 

"When the estuary calls for the water it will be released from the reservoir and back into the canal and into the Caloosahatchee River and then the estuary," said water management consultant Georgia Vince with Tetra Tech Engineering. 

Made up of two large holding cells 35 feet in height, the reservoir will hold about 170,000 acre-feet, or about 55 billion gallons of water. 

The reservoir was designed to capture water from the river during the wet season — water that would otherwise be lost to tide — and store it on the landscape. 

That water will be released during dry times to help mimic historic conditions, where water sat on the the landscape and slowly fed the river. This facet of the reservoir was only added to the project last year. 

Many in the public had criticized the lack of a water treatment component, which might render the reservoir relatively useless. 

Laws mandate that the water must be as clean or cleaner when it is discharged back into the river. 

It would be illegal to gather water from the river, store it and release it with more pollution than it came in with. 

The reservoir is one of 68 Everglades projects designed to partially restore historic flows in the River of Grass. 

The water treatment component is expected to remedy that. 

Several of the Everglades restoration projects focus on increasing the capacity for the man-made system of canals and ditches to send more water south to Everglades National Park, which desperately needs the water. 

So while the Fort Myers-Cape Coral area sometimes gets pummeled with Lake Okeechobee water, Florida Bay to the south is hypersaline because the historic flow has been severed. 

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Everglades Foundation CEO Eric Eikenberg said reservoirs like the Caloosahatchee will help with the next generation of Everglades restoration projects. 

“It is critical that key projects, like the C-43 reservoir and the Everglades Reservoir, be completed as soon as possible to increase options for water managers to distribute water to where the Everglades needs it most," Eikenberg said. "In the meantime, it is vital managers use their existing flexibility to distribute benefits to the environment, the economy and the greatest number of people, even directing more water south from Lake Okeechobee when possible.”

The reservoir and all Everglades restoration projects are 50-50 cost share agreements between the water management district and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which also controls Lake Okeechobee levels and releases. 

"This project and this study is critical for future of the C-43 reservoir project and the Caloosahatchee estuary," said water management district Executive Director Drew Bartlett. "We are going to stay committed to the mission." 

In related Caloosahatchee river news: 

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will maintain existing flow levels through the Caloosahatchee River system for the next week. 

The River needs flow from the lake during dry periods in order to keep salinity levels balanced in the estuary. 

Recent flows to the Caloosahatchee estuary have been at a seven-day average of 650 cubic feet per second, although some environmental groups say more is needed to balance the estuary. 

Connect with this reporter: @ChadGillisNP on Twitter.