HENDRY COUNTY – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Jacksonville District announces the availability of the final Environmental Assessment (EA) and Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) for Caloosahatchee River (C-43) West Basin Storage Reservoir – Reservoir Alum Treatment Project.

USACE conducted an EA, in response to a request from the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD), to modify Caloosahatchee (C-43) West Basin Storage Reservoir (C-43 WBSR) by constructing an Alum Injection System on the C-43 WBSR Pump Station 470 pursuant to 33 U.S.C. 408 (Section 408). The EA evaluated various alternatives proposed by the SFWMD that would improve water quality in the Caloosahatchee River and downstream estuary in the study area. A description of the preferred alternative is described below:

The in-reservoir alum treatment system will be installed at the inflow of the C-43 WBSR. On the north side of Pump Station S-470, a tank farm will be constructed to store enough alum for a two-week period of average usage. The alum will be dispensed into the C-43 WBSR intake channels via four alum feed pumps from the five 13,800-gallon bulk alum storage tanks. Rapid, high-energy mixing of the alum will occur within the suction intake through the S-470 pumps, and in the discharge piping of Pump Station S-470 into the C-43 WBS