Florida - Monday July 18, 2022: The South Florida Water Management District is reviewing the latest proposal for restoring the natural flow of water to the Everglades.
For years a number of restoration projects have been underway to the north and east of Lake Okeechobee and Everglades National Park, now the District Governing Board is taking a look at the The Western Everglades Restoration Project.
Jennifer Leeds, the Management District’s Bureau Chief for Restoration and Planning made the presentation to the Board last week.
“This is the project that focuses on undoing some of the damaging effects from some of the central and south Florida canals," said Leeds. The goal is to "restore the water flow and water levels to the Big Cypress National Preserve and the Western Everglades Ecosystem.”
The bulk of the planning calls for backfilling existing canals, as well as razing the old Tamiami Trail.
"We’re looking at things like the removal of the old Tamiami Trail and allowing that water to flow south," said Leeds. "So, think of it as a giant re-distribution project. It doesn’t have storage features, but as we back-fill some of these canals we’re re-distributing the water to go into eco-system areas where that water used to historically flow.”
Leeds emphasized no water would be diverted from either the C-139 Basin nor from Lake Okeechobee, and flooding she said should not be a concern.
“We’re dealing with existing basin waters. We’re not bringing any water in from Lake Okeechobee, so there is no connection to the lake, and we’ve heard from some stakeholders that are concerned that this project is going to cause flooding in these areas, and its not. We’re talking inches and not feet. But those inches are spread out over a very large area.”
If the Western Everglades Restoration Project plan is approved by the Water Management District’s governing board it will be submitted to the Army Corps for approval in August.