Coastal Conservation

Coastal Water Crisis Update: Senator Negron Champions EAA Reservoir

Audubon Executive Director Eric Draper and other Everglades advocates met with Florida Senate President-Designate Joe Negron (R-Stuart) last week to discuss solutions to reducing the damaging discharges of water from Lake Okeechobee to sensitive coastal estuaries. On the heels of these meetings, Senator Negron announced a targeted plan for a water storage project in the Everglades Agricultural Area.

The project seeks to store water south of Lake Okeechobee to provide a new southern outlet for excess Lake water. Water held south of the Lake can also serve as a badly needed source of freshwater for Florida Bay.

Over the past several months, Audubon and other Everglades advocates have sought to accelerate plans for this storage project in the EAA, as one of the most impactful solutions to the algae crisis in our coastal estuaries and the related harm to the Everglades.

Click here to see Draper’s comment on this announcement. With Senator Negron’s leadership, momentum for this project is on our side.  

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