The Army Corps took public comment Tuesday on a planned reservoir that's expected to help cut down on harmful releases to the Caloosahatchee River.
The Everglades Agriculture Area, also known as the EAA Reservoir will cost about $1.9 billion and hold about 242,000 acre-feet of water.
"We'll be able to put water into and take water from the reservoir and put it back into the canals, and what that does is free up space so when we have rainfall we can use it for storage," said Leslie Waugh, the South Florida Water Management District's project manager.
About 25 people attended the presentation at the Lee County Mosquito and Hyacinth Control District in Lehigh Acres.
"We do support the project for authorization and inclusion in the WRDA bill," said Rae Ann Wessel, with the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation. "The benefits of this project for the Caloosahatchee River in particular, for our reduction in flows, that is critical for the Caloosahatchee, which is the recipient of the massive unwanted flows from the greater Everglades ecosystem."
The state hopes to get the project moved through the Department of the Army for this year's Water Resources Development Act, or WRDA. The list of projects have passed the committee stage and are awaiting authorization from Congress.
The Army Corps released a report earlier this month that criticized the reservoir designs and plans.
“The significant concerns are related to a high cost risk associated with required dam safety design criteria, a high risk of non-compliance with water quality standards, a high risk that project benefits may not be achieved," reads a review from the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army.
But now the Corps is working with the state to expedite the project authorization.
"This is a very aggressive schedule for the Army Corps," said Gina Ralph, with the Army Corps. "This is not the norm. We have a very limited time frame to conduct this work."
The South Florida Water Management District submitted its plans in March of this year.
The reservoir, when combined with other Everglades restoration projects, would add storage south of Lake Okeechobee.
Other projects would allow "that water would be stored and treated and then moved into the water conservation areas," Waugh said. "At the southern end of the system are additional project features that would help open the southern end of the system to help that water flow south to Everglades National Park and Florida Bay."
The reservoir will sit on a 10,500-acre site and will be 23 feet deep.
Jessica Planks of Cape Coral said she'd like to make sure that Lake Okeechobee will still have water to meet the river's needs during dry times.
"I would just urge for the final statement to consider evaluation of baseline flows for the Caloosahatchee for the water that is needed to make sure we don't get too high of salinity in certain times of the year," Planks said.
Others urged the Corps to move forward with the project.
"The EAA Reservoir project is absolutely critical to reducing high flow discharges to the estuary," said James Evan, Sanibel's natural resources director. "We certainly urge you to do everything in your power to keep this project on track and to fast-track it."
The reservoir emerged from Senate Bill 10, pushed by Florida Senate President Joe Negron (R-Stuart).
Typically the Army Corps take the lead when it comes to getting plans authorized by Congress, but this approval process has taken a different route.
That process didn't include the back-and-forth discussions between the Army Corps and water management district that typically occur.
The state didn't know about the Army Corps concerns until earlier this month.
Water management district officials have said they hope the issue will be settled by August.
While the reservoir is expected to help with heavy rain events, it's not going to create a system where the Caloosahatchee estuary is immune to high-volume Lake Okeechobee releases.
"The additional storage would not be able to capture large tropical events like (Hurricane) Irma, but it is expected to reduce the discharges to the northern estuaries and the estuaries would have time to bounce back and recover," Waugh said.
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