FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Dec. 22, 2014
DEP AWARDS $2.7 MILLION FOR RAINY SEASON RESPONSE AND OPERATIONS
~ Funds will provide relief from excessive
high-water conditions ~
SOUTH FLORIDA – The Florida Department of
Environmental Protection (DEP) announced today a $2.7 million grant award to
the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) to increase water storage in
the region and improve the district’s ability to send water south from Lake
Okeechobee.
The funds allow the district to use public sites for temporary
water storage in the region creating much-needed capacity in anticipation of
high-water conditions. In addition, the funding
also reimburses the district for extended operations at critical pump stations,
which allowed the district to increase storage and expedite the process of sending
excess waters from the state’s Water Conservation Areas south to Everglades
National Park and, eventually, to tide during the 2014 rainy season.
“Building out and strengthening
south Florida’s water storage, treatment and conveyance capacity is vital to mitigating
any negative effects of stormwater runoff on our estuaries each year,” said DEP
Deputy Secretary Drew Bartlett. “It’s a complex effort to grow and maintain our
infrastructure but it’s an extremely worthwhile investment that we’re pleased
to fund with the support of Governor Scott and the Florida Legislature.”
The district will be reimbursed for
various tools and operations they utilized during the 2014 rainy season to
ensure the health and viability of Lake Okeechobee and the St. Lucie and
Caloosahatchee estuaries. District efforts included:
- The
identification and use of public lands for additional water storage;
- Extending
operations at major pump stations to move a significant amount of water south from Lake Okeechobee;
- Monitoring
and maintaining vegetation in the region’s stormwater treatment areas to ensure
additional water flows were not negatively impacting system’s ability to remove
excess phosphorous from Everglades-bound water; and
- Removing
barriers to southward flow, such as vegetation, which could hinder water
conveyance.
In addition to reimbursement for
activities tied to the 2014 rainy season, grant funding extends through June
2015, allowing the district to identify and employ these proven mitigation
strategies at the start of the 2015 rainy season as well.
“This grant from the Department of Environmental Protection is vital
for the continuing efforts to lower water levels in Lake Okeechobee,” said
SFWMD Executive Director Blake Guillory. “This funding will allow the District
to maximize flexibility in our infrastructure of pump stations and stormwater
treatment areas to move lake water south into the water conservation areas.”
The district has stored an
average volume of 86,257 acre-feet of water annually through the acquisition or
leasing of public and private lands, also referred to as the Dispersed Water
Management Program. At the close of the 2014 rainy season, 28 of the district’s
29 storage sites were utilized providing much-needed storage capacity for the
region. The Dispersed Water Management Program, when combined with the
district’s efforts to move more than 70 billion gallons of water from Lake
Okeechobee to various destinations throughout the region, helped to protect the
Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie estuaries from damage due to high-water
conditions.
To learn more about how the
district stores excess water, click here.
To learn more about the district’s efforts to move water south, click here.
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