Everglades Restoration Is Accelerating. Now Finish the Job and Send More Clean Water South.
Updated: 21 hours ago
October 27, 2026
The Everglades Foundation welcomes the National Academies’ review and calls on state and federal partners to complete the Central Everglades Planning Project (CEPP) and operate the system to maximize environmental benefits.
The National Academies’ Eleventh Biennial Review finds that Everglades restoration has accelerated substantially and that measurable progress is occurring. Seven Comphrehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) projects or major components are complete, and four are fully operating. Record state and federal funding is driving construction, including the EAA Reservoir, with construction to be completed in 2029 and fully operational by 2031. Early benefits of restoration are visible, especially in Everglades National Park.
“The progress has been remarkable.” Chief Science Officer, Dr. Steve Davis said. “These benefits will continue to multiply across South Florida, especially as we reconnect Lake Okeechobee to the Everglades and deliver clean water south, where it’s needed most.”
Finish the full Central Everglades Planning Project
The EAA Reservoir is the primary means of storing and moving more clean water south from Lake Okeechobee. Construction on CEPP South features (including the Blue Shanty Flow Way) is underway, allowing for increased flows into the park. CEPP North features, which will deliver water to the long-overdrained northern Water Conservation Area 3, are now estimated for 2032, two years later than previously projected, and the critical Miami Canal backfill component is still in design. The Foundation urges restoration agencies to maintain the current pace and ensure that all CEPP features are in place when operational testing of the EAA Reservoir is complete and ready to flow restoration quantities of clean freshwater south.
Operate the system
The review stresses that restoration success depends on how the system is run, with tradeoffs made transparently. It also finds that water management alone cannot resolve challenges like the decline of the Cape Sable seaside sparrow and recommends accelerating intervention through captive breeding and translocation. The Foundation agrees that operations should be guided by the goal of maximizing benefits to the natural system which includes meeting water quality requirements.
Although the state completed major enhancements to Stormwater Treatment Areas (STAs) in 2025, only one of five STAs has met the legally mandated phosphorus water quality based effluent limit (WQBEL) that goes into effect this year. This Committee warns that failing to be in WQBEL compliance by the end of April 2027 could mean operational limits on the reservoir. The Everglades Foundation views such an outcome as unacceptable.
“When it comes to moving water south, water quantity and quality are linked,” said Hon. Shannon Estenoz, Chief Policy Officer. “If water quality compliance falls short, the answer must be to reduce pollution at the source or expand our treatment capacity, not to restrict flow to the Everglades.”
Blue Shanty Flow Way Construction. Photos: The Everglades Foundation
Sustaining the pace requires capacity
While the review commends the rapid pace of restoration, it also warns that the acceleration is sustainable only if permitting, staffing, and contracting capacity keep up. Likewise, the monitoring and science needed to document restoration benefits in the context of the entire system will be critical.
Read the Review: Eleventh Biennial Review – 2026
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