Florida's Acceler8 Project Bringing Benefits to St. Lucie Estuary and Indian River Lagoon 

“Cleaning and restoring a more natural flow of water to the River of Grass is a massive undertaking. No other government in the world has attempted an environmental task so large and important to its citizens,” said DEP Secretary Castille. “Under the leadership of Governor Bush, Florida has committed more than $3 billion to clean up and restore the Everglades, which today is putting projects in the ground ahead of schedule to realize the environmental benefits sooner than anticipated.”

Water managers are constructing two temporary four-acre reservoirs, known as test cells, that will provide storage for more than 39.1 million gallons of water. The test results will ultimately be used to enhance the timing and delivery of water flow to the St. Lucie Estuary. The SFWMD is also building two test areas of treatment wetlands to determine the best grading techniques and vegetation growth conditions for the construction of larger stormwater treatment areas that will use plants to naturally cleanse excess nutrients from water. Slated for completion in three months, the pilot projects will provide engineers with critical water quality and seepage information to design and build the entire C-44 reservoir and stormwater treatment area on former agricultural land.

Located halfway between Lake Okeechobee and the ocean in Martin County, the completed C-44 reservoir will span 3,400 acres holding water up to 15 feet deep. The above-ground reservoir will provide 50,600 acre-feet of water storage -- the same capacity as 25,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools. The massive water storage area will work together with 6,200 acres of stormwater treatment area to capture and treat water before it is released to the C-44 Canal and flows to the Indian River Lagoon and St. Lucie Estuary. The first phase of full project construction will begin in the fall.

“This project not only advances the critical restoration of the Indian River Lagoon, but the stormwater treatment areas associated with this project will go a long way to address the serious water quality problems experienced in the St Lucie River,” said SFWMD Executive Director Carol Ann Wehle. “Improving water quality is essential for the ecosystem, businesses and citizens of the area.”

Announced by Governor Bush in October 2004, Acceler8 is stepping up the pace of funding, design and construction to complete eight critical Everglades restoration projects over seven years. At substantial savings to taxpayers, the projects will restore 100,000 acres of wetlands, expand water treatment areas by close to 29,000 acres and provide 418,000 acre-feet of additional water storage for Everglades restoration a decade ahead of schedule. The C-44 Project is the fifth Acceler8 project now underway and the third Acceler8 project launched this year. The State began expanding three treatment wetlands in February and launched similar test cells for the Everglades Agricultural Area reservoir last year and the C-43 Caloosahatchee West Storage Reservoir just last month.

Under the leadership of Governor Bush, Florida forged a 50-50 State-federal partnership to implement the $8 billion Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan and has invested $1.3 billion and committed an additional $3.2 billion through the end of the decade to clean up and restore the famed River of Grass.

For more information on Acceler8, visit www.evergladesnow.org.