A state agency involved in the restoration of the historic Everglades voted Thursday to invest $6 million in a water quality treatment component for the Caloosahatchee River Reservoir, often called C-43.
The South Florida Water Management District board met Thursday in West Palm Beach and approved the $6 million project on the agenda for approval.
The Caloosahatchee Reservoir is one of the original 68 Everglades restoration projects approved around the turn of the century.
But not everyone is convinced that the proposed treatment will sufficiently contribute to purifying the water in the reservoir.
“It’s a little concerning that we’re trying to treat it with chemicals,” said Mark Perry, executive director of the Florida Oceanographic Society. “We need to address the water quality issues at the source and before they get to these structures. Hopefully we can find a way to not repeatedly use chemicals.”
The water management district employees did not give a presentation on the water quality plan.
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“The alum is distributed from five storage tanks on the north bank of the pumping station into the pumping station intake canals via alum feed pumps,” a water management district planning document states. Alum is a chemical compound used to purify water. “Mixing of the alum occurs at the suction inlet via … pumps and in the pumping station discharge line into the reservoir. This inline injection design of alum during reservoir filling is expected to provide a beneficial reduction in algae growth in the reservoir.”
The biggest concern is that the water discharged from the reservoir must meet water quality standards. Some people are concerned that the reservoir will become contaminated.
In that case, authorities would not be able to release water from the structure to feed the fragile Caloosahatchee River estuary during the dry season, which is the very purpose of the project.
Some groups want man-made wetlands for the Caloosahatchee project
Several groups have long proposed that the district and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the federal agency involved in the project, should build a so-called stormwater treatment area (STA) on a 50-50 cost-sharing basis.
STAs are man-made wetland systems that remove pollution from water in a manner similar to a natural, undisturbed system.
Board member Charlette Roman said the contractors working for the district at C-43 are “full steam ahead.”
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“They’re doing a great job,” she said. “There’s a lot of great work going on there. They’re installing the pipes over the berm right now that bring water to the pump station, and they’re huge.”
However, not everyone is convinced that treatment with alum alone is sufficient to purify the water in the reservoir.
“I suspect there’s some old nutrients that have built up over the years because those were citrus groves,” said Calusa Waterkeeper Emeritus John Cassani. “Discharges from the reservoir have to meet water quality-based effluent restrictions, and the state at some point will have to certify that the discharges meet state water quality standards.”
This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Caloosahatchee Reservoir Costs Rise Another $6 Million to Help Provide Clean Water
