"Our latest data shows that Gov. Scott's plan is working, as the District's efforts have yielded tremendous improvements to Everglades water quality," said SFWMD Governing Board Chairman Dan O'Keefe. "Restoration Strategies was built on sound science, and these results are proof. By updating the research projects laid out in this Science Plan, the SFWMD is keeping Restoration Strategies current and on the right path to further progress."
To fully meet water quality standards for the Everglades, SFWMD has built and will build additional projects as identified in the Restoration Strategies Plan. Based on detailed scientific and technical collaboration between the State of Florida and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, projects in the plan include 6,500 acres of Stormwater Treatment Area (STAs) expansions and 116,000 acre-feet of water storage through construction of three flow equalization basins (FEBs).
Construction began in 2016 on a 4,700-acre expansion of Stormwater Treatment Area 1 West (STA-1 West) in Palm Beach County, which is expected to be completed by December 2018. A second planned expansion of STA-1 West will add another 1,800 acres of treatment capacity, for a total expansion of 6,500 acres. STAs are filled with a mixture of emergent aquatic vegetation, such as cattail, bulrush and spike rush, and submerged aquatic vegetation, such as hydrilla and southern naiad. These wetland plants absorb phosphorus for their own growth and store it in their roots, stems and leaves. Even after the plants die, sediments in the STAs retain phosphorus from the decaying plant matter.
The A-1 FEB in Palm Beach County - the largest of the three basins - has been a resounding success since construction was completed in June 2015. The L-8 FEB in Palm Beach County recently began operating in June 2017 and aided the District during Hurricane Irma, as well as other rainfall events during the year. FEBs are crucial to Gov. Scott's plan because they provide a steady flow of water to the STAs, helping to maintain water levels needed for plants to achieve optimal water quality treatment performance.
About the Science Plan
More than 35 SFWMD scientists and engineers drafted the Science Plan in coordination with technical representatives from several state and federal agencies. The Science Plan was developed to identify studies that investigate the critical factors that collectively influence ultralow treatment performance and phosphorus reduction in the STAs.
Results from Science Plan studies are being used in the design and operation of these ongoing water quality projects aimed at achieving water quality standards for the Everglades. Data and information gathered from the studies will also be incorporated into the development and refinement of SFWMD's modeling tools.
The Science Plan was originally published in June 2013, and as SFWMD staff conveyed to the Analysis Coalition, work is already underway to update it by the summer of 2018. Updates to the research work being conducted as a part of the Science Plan will be reported in the annual South Florida Environmental Report (SFER).
