August
15, 2019
**PRESS
RELEASE**
SIERRA
CLUB DEMANDS FULL REVIEW OF THE EAA RESERVOIR DESIGN
Alternatives for Water Storage, Treatment, and
Conveyance South are Way Past Due
Belle Glade, FL—The recently
released review of the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) Storage Reservoir by William J. Mitsch, Director of the
Florida Gulf Coast University's Everglades Wetland Research Park, draws
attention once again to the fact that the current project design is seriously
lacking.
Statement by Sierra Club Organizing Representative
Diana Umpierre:
“A full review of the
EAA Storage Reservoir design is immediately required and South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) must aggressively identify alternatives
for water storage, treatment, and conveyance south.
Sierra Club has been challenging South Florida Water
Management District (SFWMD) since 2017 to make full use of the resources
provided by state law to design a cost-effective reservoir project in the
Everglades Agricultural Area that maximizes potential benefits and ensures the
conveyance of clean water south to Everglades National Park and Florida Bay. The current design is a staggering betrayal of
the expectations created by the legislation (SB 10) signed into law in
2017.
The South Florida Water Management District has never engaged
in a concerted effort to ensure a larger project footprint to boost the
project’s water treatment capacity; in fact no alternatives were ever presented
that address the concerns that restricting the project’s size limits its
ability to achieve optimum performance.
Dr. Mitsch’s review underlines the need to ensure that the
project design is consistent with the intent and letter of the law, presents
the optimal configuration to reduce discharges to Florida’s coasts and deliver
clean water to the Everglades and Florida Bay, and provides these benefits
cost-effectively.
SB10 required SFWMD to
analyze the "optimal configuration” (subparagraph (5)(b)(1) of Florida Statute
373.4598) of the reservoir and SFWMD was not limited to acreage already in
public ownership. We need land, close to 100,000 acres, to
truly restore the Everglades ecosystem and protect residents from toxic harmful
algae – both around Lake Okeechobee and in the northern estuaries. For two decades everything but what is
actually needed has been the focus. Dr.
Mitsch’s review gives the District another reason to finally make land acquisition their top priority.
It makes no sense to spend $2 billion on a reservoir with a
questionable design that is highly unlikely to provide the desperately needed
benefits. Too many people have rushed to
promote the implementation of the current design. Claiming victory, accepting less than what we
truly need, will not ensure the restoration of the Everglades. We need to
continue to demand the land needed to make restoration a reality.”
Background:
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