Everglades Restoration: What's Going On?

Florida has begun a massive restoration program to preserve the Everglades, the River of Grass.

By Debra Wood

After a slow start, some Florida-funded projects on the $7.8 billion Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Program have begun. The work aims to restore a more natural water flow through the River of Grass.

"We've seen significant changes to the detriment of the natural existing environment in South Florida as a result of water-control features built during the past 60 years," said Dennis Duke, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers program manger for South Florida Restoration. Secondly, South Florida is experiencing a water shortage. "We're wasting 1.7 billion gallons a day, on average, to the ocean. That used to flow through the Everglades. We want to capture that water and retain it for the natural and human environment."

Congress approved the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Program, or CERP, as part of the Water Resources Development Act of 2000, which was signed into law by President Bill Clinton. The Corps of Engineers and the South Florida Water Management District share responsibility for reviving habitat for endangered and threatened animals and for providing water and flood control to the area.

New reservoirs will capture water now discharged through the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie rivers. That stored water can be used to supplement drinking water supplies.

"We're trying to mimic in an engineered system what Mother Nature used to do naturally," said Jeff Kivett, project director for SFWMD consultant Jacobs Montgomery Joint Venture, a partnership between Jacobs Engineering Group of Pasadena, Calif., and MWH of Broomfield, Colo.

CERP cannot simply turn the Everglades back to what it was historically because that would result in flooding of homes or agricultural land. Hence, engineers designed systems to replicate water flow while preventing adverse effects.

But the massive CERP has been slow to get off the ground, and the $175 million in planning, modeling and review work the Corps has done has been behind the scenes.

Duke the original schedule called for Congress to pass subsequent water resources acts every two years, but federal priorities have since changed.

"We should have had certain projects under construction by this point, but until Congress authorizes the projects and provides the construction funds, we cannot do that," he added.

The Corps now projects construction costs will increase to $10.5 billion, with 60 percent of that due to inflation.

Meanwhile, the State of Florida established its own Acceler8 Program in 2004 to speed up design and construction of its projects. Bond financing will fund $1.5 billion in design and construction work on eight key projects, expected to wrap up in 2010, rather than the initially projected 2020.

"They tried to pick projects that would give the largest lift to the environment," Kivett said. "Most of the projects in the Acceler8 program are independent of each other. They're in distinct parts of the different regions."

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Reservoirs

Barnard Construction Co. of Bozeman, Mont., constructed two aboveground test cells in 2005 for the Everglades Agricultural Area Reservoir. It is building two test cells at the C-43 Caloosahatchee River-West Storage Reservoir and expects to receive the contract to start construction this year on two test cells for the C-44 St. Lucie Canal Reservoir.

"They're using different embankment designs conducive for the geology of that specific area, and once they fill up, they'll look at seepage rates," said Jeff Higgins, vice president of Barnard. "It's validating the design engineers' assumptions and making sure they're heading in the right direction."

The full, $275 million Everglades Agricultural Area Reservoir, scheduled to start this year, remains in design, pending evaluation of the test cell results. The reservoir will capture freshwater releases from Lake Okeechobee and runoff from agricultural areas into a 190,000-acre-ft. aboveground reservoir. The project includes two pump stations. At the end of January, SFWMD was reviewing bids for the construction-manager-at-risk contract.

The $340 million, 10,800-acre C-43 Caloosahatchee River West Storage Reservoir, scheduled to begin construction in June 2007, will collect and store stormwater runoff and water released from Lake Okeechobee in a 12- to 24-ft.-deep reservoir that will protect salinity in the Caloosahatchee Estuary and provide water to nearby farms and homes.

The project includes 15 million cu. yds. of excavation, placing 710,000 cu. yds. of soil cement, building a pump station with two pumps and constructing 12 weirs, gated box culverts and gated spillways.

C-44, the St. Lucie Canal Reservoir, is estimated to cost $273 million and is scheduled to begin construction in October. It will protect the St. Lucie Estuary and Indian River Lagoon from stormwater runoff by collecting and treating it in a 3,000-acre, 12- to 14-ft.-deep aboveground reservoir that will hold 36,000 acre ft. to 42,000 acre ft. of water.

C-44 includes 6,000 acres of 4-ft.-deep Stormwater Treatment Areas with emergent vegetation, canals and water-control structures. Crews will remove an existing pump station and construct a new 1,100-cu.-ft.-per-second, diesel/electrical pump station with three or four pumps and expand an existing canal.
Other Acceler8 projects

The Everglades Agricultural Area Stormwater Treatment Area Expansion will add 4,500 acres of marsh to a 40,000-acre wetland already built by the state. Water from agricultural areas flows through the marshes. The plant life absorbs phosphorus from fertilizers and filters the water before it reaches the Everglades.

Gulf Group of Panama City, Fla., has begun working in Stormwater Treatment Area Expansion Compartment B, Area 2, Cell 4. It features 10 mi. of levees, requiring 800,000 cu. yds. of fill; 11 mi. of canal, requiring 1 million cu. yds. of excavation; construction of gated precast inflow and outflow culverts; and conversion of a seepage pump station to a gated structure.

Stormwater Treatment Area Expansion Compartment C will begin in July and cost $78 million. Harry Pepper & Associates of Jacksonville received the contract for Area 6, Section 2, which includes 6.9 mi. of perimeter levees and 6.9 mi. of borrow canals, 4.5 mi. of backfill farm canals, 10 gated control structures, 6.75 mi. of power line extensions and two access bridges.

In compartment C, Area 5, Flow-way 3, crews from Interlaken of Manalapan, Fla., will build 10 mi. of perimeter and internal levees, six control gated structures, 5.5 mi. of power line extensions and recreational facilities.

Harry Pepper has begun work on phase 1, the Prairie canal on the Picayune Strand (Southern Golden Gate Estates) Restoration to create a natural flow of water to Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge, provide flood protection and improve water quality. Crews will remove 227 mi. of road and build three diesel-powered pump stations sized for a 100-year storm event. They also will build spreader canals, canal plugs and levee protection. Phase two of the $125 million project will begin in August.

"It's going to create habitat for the Florida panthers and various other endangered species," Kivett said.

Five Water Preserve Areas will buffer natural and developed areas and divert runoff into storage areas. The $16 million 3A/3B levee seepage management area will begin construction in July. The work includes ecosystem restoration, wetlands enhancement, modification of existing canals, raising a maintenance access road by 1 ft. and adding bridges to access an electric company substation and a mobile home community.

The district expects construction to begin on the $15 million ACME Basin B this spring and finish by year-end. The project includes 1 million cu. yds. of cut and 512,433 cu. yds. of fill, construction of a 4-ft. levee, seepage canals, two pump stations and four culverts.

Site 1 Impoundment, a $47 million project set to begin in October, features a seepage management system, pump station, three gated culverts and canal and levee improvements.

The $69 million C-11 impoundment involves 1,850 acres, a three-bay ogee-gated spillway, pump station, gated and ungated culverts, two fixed weir structures and seepage canals, embankments and windbreaks. Work will begin in August and includes 1 million cu. yards of excavation and placement of 750,000 cu. yds. of material for levees.

C-9 Impoundment, a $47 million project to store 6,600 acre ft. of water, will begin in July and includes construction of spillways, culverts, weirs and canals.

The $14 million Biscayne Bay Coastal Wetlands project will restore water quality and distribution of fresh water into the bay, increase coastal wetlands and enhance marine habitat. That work will begin in August 2007.

The $40 million C-111 Spreader Canal, set to begin construction in November 2007, will eliminate harmful freshwater discharges into Florida Bay and revitalize wetlands in the Southern Glades and Model Lands.

SFWMD is dividing the projects into multiple contracts and will award them to prequalified contactors. Most major projects remain up for grabs, with prequalification continuing throughout the process.

"A significant amount of bidding will come out the end of this year through next year," Kivett said. "The district is really interested in small business development and local communities, so we will strategically and economically break these into packages."

Useful sources:

South Florida Water Management District, Acceler8
http://www.evergladesnow.org

Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan
http://www.evergladesplan.org/