Lake Okeechobee Watershed Project Update
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COMPREHENSIVE EVERGLADES RESTORATION PLAN LAKE OKEECHOBEE WATERSHED RESTORATION INTEGRATED PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION REPORT & ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT April 4th, 2014 Public Workshop Trusted Partners Delivering Value Today for a Better Tomorrow US Army Corps of Engineers BUILDING STRONG® LAKE OKEECHOBEE WATERSHED PROJECT AS A COMPONENT OF COMPREHENSIVE EVERGLADES RESTORATION BUILDING STRONG Four of the 68 components of CERP are COMPREHENSIVE EVERGLADES RESTORATION PLAN contained within the Lake Okeechobee Watershed Project LOWP PROJECT OBJECTIVES 1. Improve quantity, timing and distribution of flows into Lake Okeechobee to maintain ecologically desired lake stage ranges 2. Improve the salinity regime and the quality of oyster, submerged aquatic vegetation, and other estuarine community habitats in the northern estuaries 3. Increase spatial extent and functionality of wetland habitat throughout the Lake Okeechobee watershed 4. Proposed scope addition: Increase water supply availability for existing permitted water users of Lake Okeechobee PLAN FORMULATION 3-PHASED PLANNING APPROACH BUILDING STRONG PHASE 1 PHASE 2 PHASE 3 Measures Measures Measures that improve Lake that increase the that improve Okeechobee stage spatial extent & damaging high conditions, increase functionality of aquatic discharges to the availability of water and wildlife habitat in Northern Estuaries supply, and high and the Lake Okeechobee (Objective 2) low discharges to the watershed (Objective Northern Estuaries 3) (Objectives 1, 2 and 4) Reservoirs and ASR Wells Watershed wetland Deep Injection Wells restoration Trusted Partners Delivering Value Today for a Better Tomorrow 3 PLAN FORMULATION PHASE 1: FORMULATION FOR IMPROVEMENT OF LAKE OKEECHOBEE STAGES, DISCHARGES TO ESTUARIES, & WATER SUPPLY BUILDING STRONG Reservoir Placement and Sizing Considerations . Land Suitability Model to identify ‘constraint free’ sites . Analysis of spatial relationships between reservoir sites . 20 reservoir sites initially considered Scoring/Screening Sites Reservoirs Retained for Alternative Formulation • K05 North • K05 South • K-42 • I-01 PLAN FORMULATION PHASE 1: FORMULATION FOR IMPROVEMENT OF LAKE OKEECHOBEE STAGES, DISCHARGES TO ESTUARIES & WATER SUPPLY BUILDING STRONG AQUIFER, STORAGE & RECOVERY (ASR) • Groundwater modeling simulations in the 2015 CERP ASR Regional Study concluded that 80 ASR wells could be constructed Taylor Creek within the northern Lake Okeechobee basin on SFWMD rights of way based on hydrogeologic performance measures. Kissimmee/ Paradise Run Up to 112 ASR considered for this study by N. Lake O Lakeside • Reservoir Ranch including reservoir-assisted ASR wells C-41 Canal (placing ASR wells on LOWP reservoir C-40 Canal perimeters for greater operational flexibility) Nicodemus LAKE Port Slough OKEECHOBEE Mayaca ASR Formulation Strategy: Add increments of 60 SUB-BASINS to 112 ASR wells to reservoir configurations per FISHEATING CREEK INDIAN PRAIRIE alternative S-65D S-65E TAYLOR CREEK/NUBBIN SLOUGH Not to Scale POTENTIAL ASR LOCATIONS (SFWMD-OWNED LANDS) PLAN FORMULATION PHASE 2: FORMULATION TO INCREASE SPATIAL EXTENT OF HABITAT WITHIN LAKE AND SURROUNDING WATERSHED BUILDING STRONG Wetland Restoration Component • 3,500 acre CERP Yellow Book Target Fish Slough • Sites ranked on the following performance measures: Kissimmee River Fisheating Creek Paradise Run Top 4 Sites for conceptual design, cost, and habitat Lake O West Bootheel Indian Prairie unit calculations Creek Lake O East • Kissimmee River ~3,300 acres IP-10 • Lake Okeechobee West ~2,800 acres Six-Mile • Paradise Run ~4,000 acres Marsh • IP-10 ~3,500 acres SUB-BASINS FISHEATING CREEK INDIAN PRAIRIE S-65D S-65E TAYLOR CREEK/NUBBIN SLOUGH Not to Scale POTENTIAL WETLAND SITES PLAN FORMULATION PHASE 3: FORMULATION FOR IMPROVEMENT OF DAMAGING HIGH DISCHARGES TO ESTUARIES BUILDING STRONG DEEP INJECTION WELLS . DIWs provide an additional outlet for excess Lake Okeechobee water to reduce damaging regulatory releases to the coastal estuaries . DIWs would be used strategically only when regulatory Lake Okeechobee releases are being triggered by high water levels, thus diverting portions of excess flows into DIWs, rather than discharging to the estuaries . Modeling shows no impact to lake stages or water supply (due to conservative operational rules) . Proposing range of 30-90 DIWs in 3 alternatives (15 million gallons/day capacity each) INITIAL ARRAY OF ALTERNATIVES 2nd round of modeling and benefits calculation to BUILDING STRONG 1st round of modeling and benefits calculation to optimize optimize water management measures for improvement water storage and recovery for improvement in high and in undesirable high regulatory discharges to northern low lake stages and estuary releases, estuaries along with wetland restoration measures ND 1ST ROUND OF MODELING 2 ROUND OF MODELING DIW Reservoir Component ASR Component Component # of DIWs Compatible Wetland Alternative Storage # of ASR wells (assuming Components Reservoir (s) Capacity (assuming 5mgd 15mgd (acre-feet) capacity) capacity) No Action K05 North and K05 Kissimmee River Alternative 1 267K 60 - 110 30-90 South Paradise Run Kissimmee River K-05 North, K-05 Paradise Run Alternative 2a 437K 60 - 110 0 South, and K-42 Lake O West IP-10 Kissimmee River K-05 North and K- Paradise Run Alternative 2b* 291K 60 - 110 30-90 42 Lake O West IP-10 Kissimmee River Alternative 3 K-42 and I-01 295K 60 - 112 30-90 Paradise Run Lake O West *Note: this alternative was a later add-on and was not included in first round of modeling) PROJECT ALTERNATIVES BUILDING STRONG Alternative 1 Reservoirs (Blue) • K05 North (~8,000 acres) • K05 South (~10,000 acres) Compatible Wetlands (Green) • Kissimmee River (~3,300 acres) • Paradise Run (~4,000 acres) • ASR wells: 60-110 at 5mgd capacity • DIWs: 30-90 at 15mgd capacity PROJECT ALTERNATIVES Alternative 2a BUILDING STRONG Reservoirs (Blue) • K05 North (~8,000 acres) • K05 South (~10,000 acres) • K42 (~12,000 acres) Compatible Wetlands (Green) • Kissimmee River (~3,300 acres) • Paradise Run (~4,000 acres) • Lake O West (~2,800 acres) • IP-10 (~3,500 acres) • ASR wells: 60-110 at 5mgd capacity PROJECT ALTERNATIVES BUILDING STRONG Alternative 2b Reservoirs (Blue) • K05 North (~8,000 acres) • K42 (~12,000 acres) Compatible Wetlands (Green) • Kissimmee River (~3,300 acres) • Paradise Run (~4,000 acres) • Lake O West (~2,800 acres) • IP-10 (~3,500 acres) • ASR wells: 60-110 at 5mgd capacity • DIWs: 30-90 at 15mgd capacity PROJECT ALTERNATIVES BUILDING STRONG Alternative 3 Reservoirs (Blue) • K42 (~12,000 acres) • I-01 (~10,000 acres) Compatible Wetlands (Green) • Kissimmee River (~3,300 acres) • Paradise Run (~4,000 acres) • Lake O West (~2,800 acres) • ASR wells: 60-110 at 5mgd capacity • DIWs: 30-90 at 15mgd capacity.