FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE: December 12, 2002
Major
Acquisition Accelerates Everglades Restoration
--SFWMD approval
steps up water storage efforts by years--
WEST PALM BEACH - On
the second anniversary of the signing of Everglades
restoration legislation by the President of the United
States, the South Florida Water Management District
Governing Board approved the purchase of a ready-made
reservoir that places restoration efforts ahead of
schedule. The acquisition of the 31,500 acre-feet Palm
Beach Aggregates' "rock pit" reservoir will
accelerate restoration by more than six years at
substantial savings to taxpayers.
The deep-ground reservoir,
with enough holding capacity to fill 24,000 football
fields one foot deep in water, will provide flood
protection and store water needed to replenish the
Everglades. Today's approval avoids the need to pursue the
original, more costly plan, which would have required
condemning private property and constructing additional
man-made reservoirs. This phase of Everglades restoration
will be completed in 2008, six years sooner and nearly
$112 million less than any other alternative.
"The South Florida
Water Management District has done an outstanding job for
America's Everglades and the people of South Florida in
securing this reservoir project," said Governor Bush.
"Sound and resourceful environmental management is
putting us years ahead of schedule with half the financial
investment."
The Department of
Environmental Protection (DEP) today praised the
acquisition that will provide an instant supply of clean
water to the Everglades, accelerate the restoration of the
Loxahatchee River and improve water quality in Lake Worth
Lagoon. Along with these immediate environmental results,
the reservoir has significant community advantages
supplying water to the City of West Palm Beach and
ensuring public safety through flood prevention within
nearby Palm Beach County communities.
"There can be no
better way to celebrate the second anniversary of
Everglades restoration than to demonstrate that we are
getting the job done faster, better, and cheaper than we
did just two years ago," said DEP Secretary David B.
Struhs. "This is an outstanding example of
far-sighted management of both the environment and public
funds."
The reservoir will be
constructed in an unusually water tight geologic formation
that allows for deep, below-ground storage, which
minimizes water loss through evaporation and eliminates
levee safety concerns. The reservoir's strategic location
not only reduces cost of water conveyance to the
Everglades and other users but also eases the burden
placed on Lake Okeechobee during high demand dry months.
"We have reached a
milestone with Everglades restoration," said SFWMD
Executive Director Henry Dean. "This 'pay-as-you-go'
project is ready-made and risk-free and will make water
available for restoration long before the approval and
completion of other projects. With such clear economic and
social advantages, it is an example of what's to
come."
The contract to complete
the reservoir is performance-based with payment being made
over a six-year period only as the reservoir becomes
operational.
-30-
Press Office
