IN THE
NEWS
FLORIDA VOICE
SFWMD Updates Lower Kissimmee Basin Stormwater Treatment Area Project Plan
May 3, 2024 -- “We’ve just ended a period of discharges from Lake Okeechobee to our coastal estuaries, hovering on the edge of harm. Meanwhile Lake Okeechobee continues to suffer from elevated lake levels,” Director of Everglades Policy at Audubon Florida Kelly Cox said.
“Simply put, we just need more places to store and treat water before we move it south to support Everglades restoration goals. That’s exactly what this project does. It’s in a prime location. It will have access to Lake Okeechobee water. It will create optimal conditions for a stormwater treatment area,” Cox continued.
FLORIDA POLITICS
SFWMD Gives Update on Lower Kissimmee Basin Stormwater Treatment Area
May 2, 2024 -- The last large piece of the state’s plan to restore the Everglades was the topic of a public meeting hosted by the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD), and the state’s most influential environmental advocates were dialed in to cheer it on.
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“You’re taking out of production a high (nutrient) loading piece of land and putting in its place something that will treat the surrounding basin to allow all the other agricultural communities to continue to operate as they do now,” said Anna Upton, CEO of Everglades Trust. “It’s the type of thing we need to do more of throughout the state.”
SOUTH FLORIDA WATER MANAGEMENT DISTRICT
SFWMD Approves Large-Scale Water Quality Improvement Project North of Lake Okeechobee
May 13, 2021 -- The South Florida Water Management District Governing Board today unanimously approved the Lower Kissimmee Basin Stormwater Treatment Project, a large-scale water quality improvement project.
SOUTH CENTRAL FLORIDA LIFE
SFWMD projects to reduce nutrient load entering lake
May 13, 2021 -- “Lake Okeechobee really is the heart of the Everglades. What are we doing to take care of that beating heart of the Everglades?” asked Jennifer Reynolds, South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) Ecosystem Restoration and Capital Projects Division Director at the May 13 meeting of the SFWMD governing board.
TC PALM
New wetlands project north of Lake O hopes to consume phosphorus from polluted runoff
June 3, 2021 -- A newly approved wetlands project aims to suck nutrients from an area plagued by polluted water flowing into Lake Okeechobee, all in the hopes of reducing the fuel that ignites harmful algal blooms.
SOUTH CENTRAL FLORIDA LIFE
Hybrid filters in STAs could increase phosphorus reduction in water from Kissimmee River
May 31, 2021 -- Thousands of acres of stormwater treatment areas (STAs) combined with a new technology could help remove phosphorus from Kissimmee River water before it reaches Lake Okeechobee.d water flowing into Lake Okeechobee, all in the hopes of reducing the fuel that ignites harmful algal blooms.