Florida is embarking on an ambitious ecological restoration project in the Everglades: building a reservoir large enough to secure the state’s water supply. In February 2023, a large digger broke ground on a multi-billion dollar project that has been decades in the making: building a reservoir the size of Manhattan Island.
The reservoir, which is part of an historic restoration of the Everglades ecosystem, is intended to help bring a secure, long-term supply of clean drinking water to Florida’s residents. The Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) reservoir will be located south of Lake Okeechobee, the largest freshwater lake in Florida, and conservationists have dubbed the project “the crown jewel” of the Everglades’ restoration.
As well as protecting the drinking water of South Floridians, the reservoir is also intended to dramatically reduce the algae-causing discharges that have previously shut down beaches and caused mass fish die-offs.
Bigger than Manhattan and Staten Island combined, the reservoir will stretch over 10,100 acres and, in addition, have a 6,500-acre stormwater treatment area. It will be able to store 78 billion gallons (295.2 billion litres) of water. “The water will help recharge the aquifer that provides drinking water to millions of people in South Florida,” says Jason Schultz, a spokesperson for the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD).
The reservoir, a joint project between the US Army Corps of Engineers and the SFMD, is a small cog in a large initiative to restore the Everglades. The multi-billion dollar Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan was passed by Congress in 2000, and includes 68 infrastructure projects across Florida. The Everglades Foundation says that the restoration plan is the “largest environmental restoration project” in the world. The whole project is due to be completed in 2029.
Assefa Melesse, professor at the Institute of Environment at Florida International University, says the reservoir can benefit the drinking water supply indirectly and directly, as well as potentially reducing pressure on other water sources during dry periods. But, Melesse notes, “rising sea levels and changing rainfall patterns could affect the project’s long-term effectiveness”. When it comes to safeguarding Florida’s drinking water supply, saltwater intrusion is a bigger problem than replenishing groundwater, says Barry Rosen, a professor of ecology and environment at Florida Gulf Coast University who specialises in algal blooms.
“This intrusion is a really big deal,” he says, “because the entire ecosystem is a leaky system. It’s an extremely delicate balance between drinking water and flood control.” If the Everglades system is dehydrated, more saltwater can intrude, Rosen says. But too much freshwater in the ecosystem can result in flooding.
In the 1940s, the Everglades was cut off from its primary source of freshwater: Lake Okeechobee, and around 1.5 million acres (600,000ha) – roughly half of the Everglades – was cleared and drained to claim the land for building. As a result, the ecosystem was devastated.
I must admit I had no idea so much of the Everglades had been destroyed by government and developers. It’s no wonder that nature’s balance in the area is chaotic. It’s amazing any semblance of the Everglades is left after such destruction.
The proposed reservoir is not a complete solution by any means, but it is a step in the right direction. The potential benefits for ecosystem restoration, water management and reduction of harmful algae blooms are significant. One scientist stated that, “Water used to move naturally and slowly through Okeechobee, and we’ve permanently reduced the footprint of the Everglades. Yet the same rainfall is coming down. The best thing we can do is to get the quality improved and the quantity of water back to somewhat normal to feed the ecosystems that are left.
The other factor that is even harder to address is the rising sea levels resulting from climate change. The elevation of the Everglades above sea levels around the coast is minimal. Massive fresh-water reservoirs are no use to anyone if they are inundated with salt water. Intrusion of salt water, as Rosen describes above, is one thing, the sea overflowing coastal defences and pouring into the Everglades is quite another.
