SCCF attends groundbreaking for Curtain Wall project
Elected officials, federal, state and local government agencies, and environmental groups gathered on Aug. 20 at the eastern edge of the Everglades in Miami-Dade County to celebrate the groundbreaking of a project designed to help restore the River of Grass, the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation reported.
Referred to as the 8.5 Square Mile Area Curtain Wall, it is designed to reduce flooding in an 8.5-square-mile area known as the Las Palmas community and to allow more water to move south into Everglades National Park.
The project includes the construction of a 2.3-mile underground wall between the eastern Everglades and Las Palmas to reduce seepage of groundwater that has contributed to flooding in the region. Ongoing flooding in the area has limited the ability of water managers to maximize the use of Everglades projects now starting to come online. This project will allow state and federal agencies to maximize the use of existing infrastructure to send additional water south to the national park.
“This is an important project for moving water south through the central everglades and into the park and Florida Bay,” SCCF Environmental Policy Director James Evans, who attended the event, said. “Projects like this, while relatively small compared to some larger Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Projects, are important for removing the impediments to moving water south and reducing the damaging discharges from Lake Okeechobee to the estuaries.”
For more information about the project, visit https://www.sfwmd.gov/news-events/news/sfwmd-governing-board-approves-curtain-wall-miami-dade-county. For more information about the South Dade Study and Projects, visit https://www.sfwmd.gov/our-work/south-dade-projects.