The Florida Senate
BILL ANALYSIS AND FISCAL IMPACT STATEMENT
(This document is based on the provisions contained in the legislation as of the latest date listed below.)
Prepared By: The Professional Staff of the Committee on Environment and Natural Resources
BILL: SB 94
INTRODUCER: Senator Brodeur
SUBJECT: Water Storage North of Lake Okeechobee
DATE: March 2, 2021 REVISED:
ANALYST STAFF DIRECTOR REFERENCE ACTION
1. Schreiber Rogers EN Favorable
2. AP
I. Summary:
SB 94 requires the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD), in partnership with the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), to expedite implementation of the Lake Okeechobee
Watershed Restoration Project (LOWRP). The LOWRP is a project in the Comprehensive
Everglades Restoration Plan that provides water storage north of Lake Okeechobee. The bill
requires the SFWMD to:
 Request that the USACE seek expedited congressional approval of the LOWRP.
 Execute a project partnership agreement with the USACE immediately following approval.
 Expedite implementation of the aquifer storage and recovery (ASR) Science Plan developed
by the SFWMD and the USACE.
 Expedite implementation of the watershed ASR feature of the LOWRP:
o By August 1, 2021, construct or contract for exploratory and monitoring wells to evaluate
site suitability for ASR in the Kissimmee River and Taylor Creek/Nubbin Slough Basins.
o By January 30, 2022, reactivate the existing ASR system in the Kissimmee River Basin.
o By December 31, 2022, contract for exploratory and monitoring wells to evaluate site
suitability for ASR on all other feasible LOWRP watershed ASR sites.
o By March 30, 2027, ensure that, on all currently or subsequently proposed sites
determined to be suitable for LOWRP ASR, all feasible ASR systems are operational.
 Pursue expeditious implementation of the LOWRP wetland restoration features.
 By November 1, 2021, submit a report to the Legislature describing the SFWMD’s
compliance with the bill, including steps taken, plans for ongoing compliance, and specified
updates related to LOWRP implementation.
To ensure health and safety, technical feasibility, and achievement of environmental benefits, the
bill requires that the implementation of LOWRP ASR wells use a phased approach that confirms
feasibility and site suitability and addresses uncertainties identified in the ASR Science Plan.
BILL: SB 94 Page 2
II. Present Situation:
Everglades Restoration
The Everglades is a diverse and geographically extensive ecosystem, stretching from just south
of Orlando down to the Florida Keys.1 Historically, the Everglades covered almost 11,000 square
miles of South Florida, and water generally flowed down the Kissimmee River into Lake
Okeechobee, then overflowed the southern rim of the lake and flowed south in sheet flow
through the vast Everglades down to Florida Bay at the southern tip of the peninsula.2 The
Everglades includes sawgrass marshes, freshwater ponds, prairies, and forested uplands
supporting a high diversity of plant and animal habitats.3 Development of the Everglades
wilderness began in the 1800s, and, following devastating flooding from hurricanes in the 1920s
and 1940s, the public demanded improved agricultural production and improved flood
management for expanding population centers on Florida’s southeastern coast.4
Central and Southern Florida Project (C&SF Project)
In 1948, Congress authorized the Central and Southern Florida Project (C&SF Project).5 The
purposes of the project included flood control, regional water supply, prevention of saltwater
intrusion, water supply to Everglades National Park, wildlife preservation, recreation, and
navigation.6 To achieve these purposes, in a partnership between the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers (USACE) and the state, the C&SF Project initially involved the following actions:
channelizing the meandering Kissimmee River, diking the lake to prevent uncontrolled
overflows, constructing a drainage system in the lower east coast to support development,
establishing the 700,000-acre Everglades Agricultural Area south of Lake Okeechobee, and
diking portions of the central Everglades to create a series of Water Conservation Areas7 for
water supply storage for human and ecological needs.8 Decades of related water management
projects ensued. Today, the C&SF Project is operated by the South Florida Water Management
District (SFWMD) and the USACE.9 It includes 1,000 miles of canals, 720 miles of levees, and
1
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Seventh
Biennial Review, xi, 13 (2018)[hereinafter Seventh Biennial Review], available at
https://www.nap.edu/catalog/25198/progress-toward-restoring-the-everglades-the-seventh-biennial-review-2018 (last visited
Jan. 18, 2021).
2
SFWMD, Everglades, https://www.sfwmd.gov/our-work/everglades (last visited Jan. 17, 2021).
3
Id.; Seventh Biennial Review, at 13.
4
Seventh Biennial Review, at 21-22; SFWMD, History, https://www.sfwmd.gov/who-we-are/history (last visited Jan. 18,
2021).
5
The Flood Control Act of 1948 (Pub. L. No. 858, s. 203, 62 Stat. 1176).
6
USACE and SFWMD, Central and Southern Florida Project Comprehensive Review Study, Final Integrated Feasibility
Report and Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement, 1-1 (April 1999) [hereinafter Restudy], available at
https://www.sfwmd.gov/sites/default/files/documents/CENTRAL_AND_SOUTHERN_FLORIDA_PROJECT_COMPREHE
NSIVE_REVIEW_STUDY.pdf (last visited Jan. 18, 2020).
7
USACE and DOI, 2015-2020 Momentum, Report to Congress, Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, Central and
Southern Florida Project, 4 (Dec. 2020)[hereinafter 2020 Report to Congress], available at
https://issuu.com/usace_saj/docs/final_2020_report_to_congress_on_cerp_progress_hig (last visited Jan. 18, 2021). Water
Conservation Areas are described as “vast tracts of remnant Everglades sawgrass that serve multiple water resource and
environmental purposes including flood control, water supply, and deliveries of water to Everglades National Park.”
8
Seventh Biennial Review, at 22; Restudy, at 1-1.
9
Restudy, at 1-28.
BILL: SB 94 Page 3
several hundred water control structures providing a wide range of services to south Florida’s
growing population.10
The Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP)
While the C&SF Project performed its intended flood control purposes well for around 50 years,
the project had unintended adverse effects on the unique natural environment of the Everglades
and South Florida system.11 Beginning in the 1970’s, concerns began to mount about
environmental impacts in the region, including: significant reduction of natural water storage
capacity, water quality degradation, extreme fluctuations in high and low lake levels, excessive
or inadequate fresh water discharged to the estuaries, substantial impacts to wildlife habitat and
biodiversity, and unsuitable freshwater flows within the system.12 The resulting lack of water
storage leads to ecological damage to Lake Okeechobee and damaging regulatory releases to the
St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee estuaries during wet periods, and water supply shortages for both
humans and the natural environment during dry periods.13
In the federal Water
Resources
Development Acts
(WRDAs) of 1992 and
1996, Congress directed
the USACE to conduct
a comprehensive review
study of the C&SF
Project (known as the
“Restudy”).14 In 1999,
the Restudy
recommended a
comprehensive
restoration plan.15
In WRDA 2000, Congress authorized the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP).16
CERP is a framework for modifications and operational changes to the C&SF Project necessary
to restore, preserve, and protect the south Florida ecosystem while providing for other water-
related needs of the region, including water supply and flood protection.17 CERP contains over
68 individual components comprising more than 50 projects.18 These components improve
10
2020 Report to Congress, at xviii, 4-6.
11
Restudy, at 1-1, available at
https://www.sfwmd.gov/sites/default/files/documents/CENTRAL_AND_SOUTHERN_FLORIDA_PROJECT_COMPREHE
NSIVE_REVIEW_STUDY.pdf (last visited Feb. 21, 2021).
12
Id. at iii, 1-2; 2020 Report to Congress, at 5-6; Seventh Biennial Review, at 23.
13
Restudy, at 1-2.
14
Id. at 1-3–1-7; see Pub. L. No. 102-580, s. 309(l), (1992) and Pub. L. No. 104-303, s. 528 (1996).
15
Restudy, at i-ii.
16
Water Resources Development Act of 2000, Pub. L. No. 106-541, s. 601, 114 Stat. 2680 (2000).
17
2020 Report to Congress, at 6.
18
Id. at 6-7; see generally Restudy. The April 1999 “Central and Southern Florida Project Comprehensive Review Study
Final Integrated Feasibility Report and Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement,” commonly known as the “Yellow
BILL: SB 94 Page 4
Book,” contains the original CERP plan authorized by Congress. The plan identifies CERP components using a code of
letters.
BILL: SB 94 Page 5
delivery and timing within the Everglades system by increasing the size of natural areas,
improving water quality, releasing water to mimic historical flow patterns, and storing and
distributing water for urban, agricultural, and ecological uses.19 CERP covers around 18,000
square miles, including all or part of 16 counties in central and southern Florida.20
For a CERP project to receive federal authorization for implementation, and to receive federal
appropriations, it must be included in a “project implementation report” that has received
congressional approval.21 The USACE has developed Programmatic Regulations for CERP to
ensure that the Plan’s goals and purposes are achieved.22 The federal regulations specify the
requirements for developing project implementation reports, involving public review and
comment and detailed technical analyses necessary for project planning and implementation.23
The reports formulate and evaluate alternative plans for the CERP project, and then identify a
selected plan.
The federal legislation provides the framework for CERP as a 50/50 cost-share program between
the state and federal government.24 The USACE is the federal sponsor for the partnership and the
SFWMD is the lead non-federal sponsor.25 The agencies track the cost-sharing based on their
total respective spending on CERP initiatives. In 2009, the USACE and the SFWMD executed a
Master Agreement, an umbrella agreement for CERP projects that established conditions for
cost-sharing and for project partnership agreements.26 Project partnership agreements establish
project-specific responsibilities for the implementing agencies, and provide project-specific
credit to the SFWMD for its land acquisition and project construction efforts completed prior to
the agreement.27
Lake Okeechobee
Lake Okeechobee is the largest freshwater lake in the southeastern United States, with a surface
area of 730 square miles and a volume in excess of 4 million acre-feet.28 It is the largest
component of water storage in the South Florida ecosystem: one foot of water in Lake
19
Restudy, at vii-x.
20
U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, Subcommittee Hearing on “The
Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan and Water Management in Florida” (Sept. 21, 2020), available at
https://www.congress.gov/116/meeting/house/111019/documents/HHRG-116-PW02-20200924-SD001.pdf (last visited Jan.
19, 2021).
21
Water Resources Development Act of 2000, Pub. L. No. 106-541, s. 601(a)(2)(D)(i), (f), (h), 114 Stat. 2683 (2000).
22
33 C.F.R. pt. 385.
23
33 C.F.R. s. 385.26; see Restudy, at 10-17–10-20.
24
Water Resources Development Act of 2000, Pub. L. No. 106-541, s. 601(e), 114 Stat. 2684 (2000).
25
2020 Report to Congress, at 3.
26
See SFWMD, News Release: Momentum for Everglades Restoration Continues with Historic State-Federal Agreements
(August 13, 2009), available at https://www.sfwmd.gov/sites/default/files/documents/nr_2009_0813_master_agreement.pdf
(last visited Feb. 21, 2021).
27
Id.
28
Seventh Biennial Review, at 133; SFWMD, How Much is an Acre-Foot of Water?, available at
https://www.sfwmd.gov/sites/default/files/documents/graphic_acrefoot.pdf (last visited Jan. 25, 2021). An acre-foot is the
volume of water needed to cover 1 acre of land with 1 foot of water. It is equal to 325,851 gallons.
BILL: SB 94 Page 6
Okeechobee equals around 450,000 acre-feet of storage.29 The lake is managed as a multi-
purpose reservoir for navigation, water supply, flood control, and recreation.30
Around 40 percent of the water that comes into the lake is from direct rainfall, and of the surface
water that flows into the lake the largest source is the Kissimmee River, contributing about 60
percent of inflows.31 About 95
percent of the surface water
inflows into the lake come from
the six subwatersheds north (or
northwest) of the lake.32 Lake
Okeechobee and its watershed
have been subjected to hydrologic,
land use, and other anthropogenic
modifications over the past century
that have degraded its water
quality and affected the water
quality of the connected
Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie
Rivers and Estuaries.33
The lake’s two outlets with the
largest discharge capacity are
eastward through the St. Lucie
Canal (C-44) to the Atlantic
Ocean, and westward through the
Caloosahatchee Canal and River
29
Seventh Biennial Review, at 133; SFWMD, News Release, South Florida Water Managers Take Steps to Increase Water
Storage (Oct. 14, 2011), https://www.sfwmd.gov/sites/default/files/documents/nr_2011_1014_dispersed_water_storage.pdf
(last visited Jan. 19, 2021).
30
Restudy, at 1-13.
31
Karl E. havens & Alan D. Steinman, Ecological Responses of a Large Shallow Lake (Okeechobee, Florida) to Climate
Change and Potential Future Hydrologic Regimes, ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, Vol. 52, No. 5 (2013), available at
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24178125/ (last visited Jan. 19, 2021); USACE, Lake Okeechobee: F