A.D. The $ 2.1 billion water project, approved in 2000 and funded in 2007, is nearing completion but is expected to take 10 years to complete.
Indian River Lego South South C23 / C24 Reservoir and Rainwater Treatment Area west of Wheat Road, Government Road 70 holds two reservoirs and STA on both sides.
The reservoirs store more than 4 billion gallons of rainwater each year, and now flow from the 827-square-mile[827 sq km]basin in western St. Lucy County to the north fork of the St. Luchi River, contaminated with nutrients, bacteria, pesticides, and pesticides. More.
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Recommendations for water retention in the river are common due to bacterial contamination of the body, pets, wildlife and animals.
The project will remove 7.9 million cubic meters of thorns from the river and reduce phosphorus by 41% and nitrogen by 26 percent. This helps to reduce the flow of cyanobacteria, commonly known as blue-green algae and sometimes the toxic microcysteine.
Construction contracts will be auctioned this month.
The project, to be built by engineers in partnership with the Army Corps and the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD), was funded by former President Bill Clinton. Congress passed the law in 2000. 2007 Water Resources Development Act.
St. Lucy River water projects
That canal could lead to the level of clarity that C-23 and C-24 canals had originally designed for landscapes.
SFWMD recently completed 6,600 hectares of water from Evans Property Bluefield Grove, which is expected to store 9.2 billion gallons of rainfall annually from West St. Lucy County. Also, SFWMD and the Army Corps will celebrate the completion of the C-44 reservoir project near Yanyanta next month to save 46 billion gallons of water a year from the river and the Indian Ocean Lego.
When SFWMD breaks ground on the C-25 reservoir project, more storage capacity will be added to the system within a few years.
Consider these statistics about the C23 / C24 Reservoir Project:
- 12,000 hectares of underground storage
- 9,000 hectares of artificial wetlands
- 90,000 hectares of natural areas
- 53,000 hectares of reclaimed wet land (provides additional water storage)
- A 90-hectare artificial underwater residence has been created for aquatic plants
- 922 hectares of water-immersed plants have been restored
- 2,650 acres of benzic habitat created on the St. Luci River and volcano
- Restored Oyster Residence 889 acres
- $ 6.1 million in improved agricultural productivity through improved clean water supplies
- $ 6 Billion in Regional Economic Benefits (2007 Prices)
How much does the project help?
As long as St. Lucy’s southern fork is connected to Lake Okchechobi, there will be wastewater ready to go down with the next rains.
But this project will help improve the quality of the river. I saw it with my own eyes.
I previously worked as a biological scientist at the Indian River Research and Education Center for Food and Agricultural Sciences at the University of Florida in Fort Pierce. From 1984 to 1997, I worked in citrus grocery stores throughout Florida, assisting with insect research programs. Pests and plant diseases.
Since then, I have spent eight years in the American Department of Agricultural Research Laboratory at Fort Pierce. In eastern Florida, from Boca Raton to Vero Beach, I worked closely with gardeners to help control plant diseases.
One of the things that connected me with both projects was the impact of water management infrastructure and decisions on a field that receives between 53 inches and 80 inches of rainfall per year.
I saw a frog fall asleep 50 acres[50 ha]of tomato fields in 30 minutes. I saw it raining for a long time, and for two weeks there was a sheet-flow in the orange tree. I saw irrigation ditches dry for about eight months until they found nothing but dust.
For the past 70 years, summer and autumn rains have hit central Central Luchi County, causing water to flow south and east through two major C-23 and C-24 canals. As a result, residents of St. Luci and Martin counties are exposed to dirty water conditions that last from July to November.
Can we see clean water one day?
Trying to plan how much rain, where and when to work will never be a success in South Florida. But when the rains come, we must plan to go as far back as possible.
For 27 years I have been writing about water abuse in Florida. It took more than a century to reverse the original idea of sewage.
People who do not depend directly on clean rivers have recently been able to understand how our rooms have fallen.
Surprisingly, we have cyanobacteria to thank. I fear that many of us will end up in a floating, blooming, toxic human health.
Go to saj.usace.army.mil/IRLSC23C24 to learn more about the project.
Ed Killer is an external author of TCPalm. Subscribe to him and other weekly newspapers at profile.tcpalm.com/newsletters/manage. Follow Ed’s killer on Facebook, on Twitter @tcpalmekiller Or email it ed.killer@tcpalm.com.