SFWMD to seek $64M to complete its part of project to cut Lake O discharges

The South Florida Water Management District should soon have all the money needed to complete its part of the reservoir project to cut Lake Okeechobee discharges to the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers.

The district board is expected Thursday [Nov. 12] to ask the state Department of Environmental Protection for $64 million the Legislature and Gov. Ron DeSantis agreed earlier this year should go to the Everglades Agricultural Area Reservoir Project.

That money "gives us the entire $174 million we need to complete the 6,500-acre stormwater treatment area on schedule in 2023," SFWMD spokesperson Randy Smith said of the Stormwater Treatment Area (STA) currently under construction.