HEALTH

Cleaner water coming to St. Lucie River, Indian River Lagoon as SFWMD opens C-44 project

Tyler Treadway Ed Killer
Treasure Coast Newspapers

Gov. Ron DeSantis counted down: "5, 4, 3, 2, 1 ... "

Then he pressed the button on top of the podium. Four diesel pumps nearby roared to life. Within 10 seconds, water began flowing into a flat field nearby.

The C-44 Reservoir and Stormwater Treatment Area, part of the landmark Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan signed into law nearly 20 years ago, is now officially, if only partially, online.

The $765 million project is one component of a suite of 68 CERP projects to curb Lake Okeechobee discharges to the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers, and restore the historic flow of clean water back to the Everglades. 

Spectators watch as water pumped from the C-44 canal begins to flow into cell 2 of the C-44 Reservoir and Stormwater Treatment Area following the ceremonial start triggered by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday, Nov. 8, 2019, in western Martin County.

STA part of reservoir project

Half of the 6,300-acre STA being built along the C-44 Canal in western Martin County is now operational. Its job is to clean polluted stormwater runoff taken in from the C-44 canal — but not directly from Lake Okeechobee — which otherwise would have headed directly for the St. Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon.

Water in the C-44 canal comes from local basin runoff along the 23-mile man-made canal as well as from Lake O during times where flood control deems discharges necessary.

The four large pumps are capable of moving a combined 6.7 million gallons per hour from the intake canal to one of the six individually functioning cells inside the STA, South Florida Water Management District lead construction manager Buff Searcy explained. Beginning Tuesday, the pumps will run 8 hours a day, five days a week and take about 30 days to put 18 inches of water into each 1,000-acre cell.

"It'll probably take us two more weeks to fill the canals on the perimeter of Cell No. 2 and two more weeks to fill cells 1 and 3," Searcy estimated. "It will probably take us about two months to fill the first half of the project area."

The man-made wetland uses plants like cattails to suck up phosphorus and hold sediment. No other species of plants are planned to be planted, Searcy said.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis presses the ceremonial button to begin the flow of water pumped from the C-44 Canal into cell 2 of the new C-44 Reservoir Stormwater Treatment Area on Friday, Nov. 8, 2019, as Florida Sen. Gayle Harrell (left), and Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch (far right), governing board member of the South Florida Water Management District, cheer him on. The new stormwater treatment area, located in western Martin County near the Indiantown Airport, is a major component of the Indian River Lagoon-South Restoration Project to improve the health of the Indian River Lagoon and the St. Lucie River.

Clean water

Once the water is cleaned, it will be discharged back into the C-44 canal, where it may or may not go into the St. Lucie River, depending on release schedules.

The SFWMD began pumping water into the first of three sections Friday. As construction continues, more of the STA's six sections will be flooded.

The fully functional STA, expected by mid-2020, is designed to treat about 46 billion gallons of water flowing into the canal each year, removing about 45,200 pounds of phosphorus, according to the SFWMD. That's about:

  • The weight of 3½ African bull elephants
  • 40% of the 112,136 pounds of phosphorus that flows, on average, from the C-44 Canal basin into the St. Lucie River each year

Treasure Coast residents such as SFWMD board member Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch of Sewall's Point were excited.

"Sometimes I have to pinch myself," she said during remarks at the opening. "It feels so amazing to give residents of the Treasure Coast and the St. Lucie River estuary their first taste of tangible relief from the contaminated local basin runoff. This first water into the cells of the C-44 Stormwater Treatment Area represents a big step forward for the St. Lucie River."

C-44 reservoir project

To help expedite relief from Lake Okeechobee discharges, the SFWMD took over construction of the STA from the Army Corps of Engineers, which is building the 3,400-acre reservoir on the property, scheduled to be operating in 2021.

With an average depth of 15 feet, it will hold as much water as flows over Niagara Falls (both the Canadian and American sides) in 1 day and 5 hours.

The reservoir will be encircled by a 9.2-mile, 30-foot-high earthen embankment and a discharge structure to release water into the STA. The entire project contains about 30 miles of elevated roads and 28 miles of canals, Search said.

CERP projects are designed to:

  • Increase the flow of clean water to the Everglades, where it's desperately needed
  • Reduce the flow of Lake O water to the St. Lucie River, which never needs it
  • Manage the flow of Lake O water to the Caloosahatchee River, which needs freshwater to cut salinity during dry periods, but not during rainy ones.

A similar reservoir project is being built west of Lake O along the C-43 Canal, which connects Lake O with the Caloosahatchee River and the Gulf of Mexico.

The C-44 reservoir project began in 2007 when the SFWMD bought and cleared 12,000 acres, spending $173 million, including $27 million from Martin County's special 1-cent sales tax.

"The residents of Martin County really are who should be thanked for this start of this project," said Martin County Commissioner Doug Smith, one of the only politicians present Friday who was serving when the project launched. 

STA construction delays

Construction hasn't always gone according to plan. Col. Andrew Kelly, the Army Corps of Engineers' Jacksonville district commander, said as much in his remarks Friday.

"The uniqueness to this project is we broke the mold with it," Kelly told the crowd. "We moved it up to get it done faster by about five years. But it hasn’t always been easy, and we ended up with hiccups along the way. Keeping it synchronized paid dividends along the road."

Kelly said valuable lessons were learned.

"We are applying those lessons learned to the C-43 Reservoir and will apply to the C-23 and C-24 Reservoir," he said. "That will help move those along probably two years ahead of schedule, and also to the EAA reservoir. This is a great template to follow and it will provide enormous benefits to the entire region."   

The SFWMD fired Blue Goose Construction of Fort Pierce a year ago, after the contractor had completed about 75% of its work on the $100.8 million STA contract.

Blue Goose sued for wrongful termination. The district has agreed to pay a law firm up to another $500,000 for its representation. Kirwin Norris specializing in construction cases and is based in Orlando and Fort Lauderdale.

The district replaced Blue Goose with Bergeron Land Development, a company owned by Ronald M. "Alligator Ron" Bergeron. That was just days after Gov. Ron DeSantis said he wanted Bergeron on the SFWMD board but before the Broward County resident took his seat on the panel.

The Florida Commission on Ethics ruled Bergeron didn't have a conflict of interest despite the $25 million contract with the agency he would help run.