Stormwater Treatment Area component of critical EAA Reservoir Project celebrates ribbon cutting, begins hydration period.
When we started Captains For Clean Water back in February of 2016, we knew there was a major problem with South Florida’s water management.
We knew there were political powers at play, and we knew that solutions, like Everglades restoration, were being locked up in the basement by the status quo, stalling any progress that could help pull us out of a water-quality crisis.
Most of the 68 projects within the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan—the plan that would restore the flow of water south from Lake Okeechobee to the Everglades and reduce coastal discharges—were still just words on paper, mere proposals in a plan that had been signed into law way back in 2000.
Cornerstone projects like the EAA Reservoir—a massive reservoir designed to store, treat, and send more water south to the Everglades—hadn’t even been funded or authorized at the state or federal levels, and were basically still just pipe dreams.
How the tide has turned…
Since then, things have changed completely, and there is a groundswell of support driving Everglades restoration towards progress.
From everyday citizens to partner organizations to federal and state agencies, everyone is rowing towards the same goal: get the water right.
Captains For Clean Water Executive Director, Capt. Daniel Andrews, speaking at the STA ribbon cutting ceremony, Jan. 25, 2024.
Now, because of your help in making this movement an unstoppable force, we’ve reached another major milestone in the fight for clean water.
Yesterday, less than two weeks from our organization’s eight-year anniversary, we celebrated the ribbon cutting of the Stormwater Treatment Area (STA) component of the critical EAA Reservoir.
With a shared sense of pride, we joined dozens of other stakeholders as the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) turned on the STA pumps for the first time, hydrating the first of three cells that will make up the 6,500-acre water treatment area.
Turning the pumps on
Opening the ribbon-cutting ceremony, Chauncey Goss, Chairman of the SFWMD Governing Board, commented on the magnitude of the moment and the unity that’s been required in recent years to get to this point.
“In case the vastness of this place is lost on any of you, I’m told that you can fit every major Florida theme park in this project area, and you’d still have room to spare,” he said, adding, “We do not work in a vacuum, we’ve got many partners and stakeholders here with us to celebrate today.”
SFWMD turns on the Stormwater Treatment Area pumps to begin filling Cell 1 for the first time.
Shannon Estenoz, Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks at the Department of the Interior, agreed that achieving this pivotal project completion—and the current level of restoration momentum in general—was a reflection of the many individuals and groups working relentlessly together toward progress.
“It’s because the federal government, the state government, tribal governments, stakeholders, and the public, you have developed a recipe for working effectively together,” she said. “And frankly, I think we may be doing it better here than anywhere else in the country.”
What is a Stormwater Treatment Area?
The concept behind the STA is simple: using natural vegetation, the filter marsh will “treat,” or clean, water heading south to the Everglades from the future deep-water storage reservoir.
The 240,000 acre-foot storage reservoir, which broke ground last year and is expected to be completed around 2030, will store excess water from Lake Okeechobee to help prevent damaging coastal discharges and to provide more beneficial fresh water for the Everglades when it’s needed, especially during the dry season.
But that lake water is highly polluted with excess nutrients, like Phosphorus, that can radically disrupt the balance in the Everglades ecosystem.
So, before that water is conveyed south to the Everglades, nutrient levels must be lowered dramatically. The vegetation within this STA will take up those excess nutrients and clean the water before it’s sent to hydrate the Everglades.
Stormwater Treatment Areas are vast networks of filter marshes leveraging natural vegetation to remove pollutants from water bound for the Everglades.
This EAA Reservoir Stormwater Treatment Area now adds to the existing 60-thousand-acre network of wetland treatment areas throughout the Central Everglades. The remaining two cells of this treatment area are expected to be completed and filled by the end of this summer.
Considering the scale of the project and the complex engineering required, it’s incredibly impressive to see these pumps turn on, given the timeline.
“If you want to know what progress looks like in Everglades restoration, look no further,” said Chairman Goss, closing his remarks in front of the project site.
Building a movement for the past eight years
We didn’t get to this moment by chance, though.
Progress may prevail now, but before you and thousands of others began speaking up for change, our troubled waters and treasured coasts had no voice, and delay was the name of the game for restoration efforts.
Projects had just sat idle because there was no public pressure to take them from the page to the construction site, but with the momentum that you’ve helped to build over the past 8 years, the former apathy towards water quality has been replaced by an absolute premium on clean, healthy waterways—a premium that demands progress continues at record pace.
“The significance of this day, of the ribbon cutting and turning on the pumps and flowing water into this area, is something that just a short eight years ago when we started the organization, we were told this would never happen,” says Captains For Clean Water Co-Founder, Capt. Chris Wittman. “And so to be standing here today, at this site, with this project complete, is a testament to the power of people getting involved.”
This moment adds to the 67 Everglades restoration projects that have been completed, broken ground, or reached major milestones in the past 5 years.
Thank you for your help in making this happen—let’s keep it going stronger than ever!
Stormwater Treatment Area component of critical EAA Reservoir Project celebrates ribbon cutting, begins hydration period.
When we started Captains For Clean Water back in February of 2016, we knew there was a major problem with South Florida’s water management.
We knew there were political powers at play, and we knew that solutions, like Everglades restoration, were being locked up in the basement by the status quo, stalling any progress that could help pull us out of a water-quality crisis.
Most of the 68 projects within the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan—the plan that would restore the flow of water south from Lake Okeechobee to the Everglades and reduce coastal discharges—were still just words on paper, mere proposals in a plan that had been signed into law way back in 2000.
Cornerstone projects like the EAA Reservoir—a massive reservoir designed to store, treat, and send more water south to the Everglades—hadn’t even been funded or authorized at the state or federal levels, and were basically still just pipe dreams.
How the tide has turned…
Since then, things have changed completely, and there is a groundswell of support driving Everglades restoration towards progress.
From everyday citizens to partner organizations to federal and state agencies, everyone is rowing towards the same goal: get the water right.
Captains For Clean Water Executive Director, Capt. Daniel Andrews, speaking at the STA ribbon cutting ceremony, Jan. 25, 2024.
Now, because of your help in making this movement an unstoppable force, we’ve reached another major milestone in the fight for clean water.
Yesterday, less than two weeks from our organization’s eight-year anniversary, we celebrated the ribbon cutting of the Stormwater Treatment Area (STA) component of the critical EAA Reservoir.
With a shared sense of pride, we joined dozens of other stakeholders as the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) turned on the STA pumps for the first time, hydrating the first of three cells that will make up the 6,500-acre water treatment area.
Turning the pumps on
Opening the ribbon-cutting ceremony, Chauncey Goss, Chairman of the SFWMD Governing Board, commented on the magnitude of the moment and the unity that’s been required in recent years to get to this point.
“In case the vastness of this place is lost on any of you, I’m told that you can fit every major Florida theme park in this project area, and you’d still have room to spare,” he said, adding, “We do not work in a vacuum, we’ve got many partners and stakeholders here with us to celebrate today.”
SFWMD turns on the Stormwater Treatment Area pumps to begin filling Cell 1 for the first time.
Shannon Estenoz, Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks at the Department of the Interior, agreed that achieving this pivotal project completion—and the current level of restoration momentum in general—was a reflection of the many individuals and groups working relentlessly together toward progress.
“It’s because the federal government, the state government, tribal governments, stakeholders, and the public, you have developed a recipe for working effectively together,” she said. “And frankly, I think we may be doing it better here than anywhere else in the country.”
What is a Stormwater Treatment Area?
The concept behind the STA is simple: using natural vegetation, the filter marsh will “treat,” or clean, water heading south to the Everglades from the future deep-water storage reservoir.
The 240,000 acre-foot storage reservoir, which broke ground last year and is expected to be completed around 2030, will store excess water from Lake Okeechobee to help prevent damaging coastal discharges and to provide more beneficial fresh water for the Everglades when it’s needed, especially during the dry season.
But that lake water is highly polluted with excess nutrients, like Phosphorus, that can radically disrupt the balance in the Everglades ecosystem.
So, before that water is conveyed south to the Everglades, nutrient levels must be lowered dramatically. The vegetation within this STA will take up those excess nutrients and clean the water before it’s sent to hydrate the Everglades.
Stormwater Treatment Areas are vast networks of filter marshes leveraging natural vegetation to remove pollutants from water bound for the Everglades.
This EAA Reservoir Stormwater Treatment Area now adds to the existing 60-thousand-acre network of wetland treatment areas throughout the Central Everglades. The remaining two cells of this treatment area are expected to be completed and filled by the end of this summer.
Considering the scale of the project and the complex engineering required, it’s incredibly impressive to see these pumps turn on, given the timeline.
“If you want to know what progress looks like in Everglades restoration, look no further,” said Chairman Goss, closing his remarks in front of the project site.
Building a movement for the past eight years
We didn’t get to this moment by chance, though.
Progress may prevail now, but before you and thousands of others began speaking up for change, our troubled waters and treasured coasts had no voice, and delay was the name of the game for restoration efforts.
Projects had just sat idle because there was no public pressure to take them from the page to the construction site, but with the momentum that you’ve helped to build over the past 8 years, the former apathy towards water quality has been replaced by an absolute premium on clean, healthy waterways—a premium that demands progress continues at record pace.
“The significance of this day, of the ribbon cutting and turning on the pumps and flowing water into this area, is something that just a short eight years ago when we started the organization, we were told this would never happen,” says Captains For Clean Water Co-Founder, Capt. Chris Wittman. “And so to be standing here today, at this site, with this project complete, is a testament to the power of people getting involved.”
This moment adds to the 67 Everglades restoration projects that have been completed, broken ground, or reached major milestones in the past 5 years.
Thank you for your help in making this happen—let’s keep it going stronger than ever!