Lake Okeechobee reservoir: Tell Army Corps of Engineers what you think

The Army Corps of Engineers wants to know what you think about the plans for the reservoir being designed to help cut Lake Okeechobee discharges.

The Corps is preparing an environmental impact statement to evaluate and document possible effects of the reservoir design developed by the South Florida Water Management District and will accept comments on the plan through April 30.

All the comments will be included in both the draft and final environmental impact statements, said Jenn Miller, a Corps spokeswoman.  

The district submitted its design for the reservoir to the Corps on March 30.

More: Lake O reservoir plan now in Army Corps' hands

Curbing discharges

The design includes a:

• 23-foot-deep, 10,100-acre reservoir to store up to 78.2 billion gallons of excess lake water
• 6,500-acre man-made marsh to clean the water

The district claims the project will — when used in conjunction with other existing and planned projects — reduce the number of damaging discharge events from Lake Okeechobee to the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers by 63 percent and send an average of about 120.6 billion gallons of clean water south to the Everglades and Florida Bay.

Several environmental groups originally objected to the plan, saying its marsh was too small to sufficiently clean that much water. But once it was submitted to the Corps, the plan was backed by most of the groups as the best chance available to help cut discharges.

More: Reservoir plan gets environmentalists' support

The district's complete reservoir study is available at sfwmd.gov/our-work/cerp-project-planning/eaa-reservoir.

Timetable

The state legislation approved last spring authorizing the project calls for the Corps to review the plan, make any recommendations for changes and submit it to Congress by Oct. 1.

Congress is supposed to approve the plan by Dec. 31, 2019, so that the federal government will pay its half of the expected $1.4 billion cost.

Once approved, the project could be built in seven to nine years, water district Executive Director Ernie Marks told state legislators in January.

“Stakeholder input is an essential component of our environmental review process and we encourage all interested parties to provide comments as part of this process,” said Lt. Col. Jennifer Reynolds, Corps deputy commander for South Florida.

How to comment

• Email Stacie.J.Auvenshine@usace.army.mil
• Mail Stacie Auvenshine, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Jacksonville District, P.O. Box 4970 Jacksonville, FL 32232‐0019