Massive Everglades reservoir project moves forward with 2029 target

WQCS, April 27, 2026

TREASURE COAST — A long-anticipated Everglades restoration effort is advancing as state and federal leaders push forward on a major reservoir project designed to change how water moves through South Florida and reduce environmental impacts along the Treasure Coast.

At the center of the effort is the Everglades Agricultural Area reservoir, part of the broader Central Everglades Planning Project, which aims to redirect water south from Lake Okeechobee instead of sending excess flows east and west into coastal estuaries.

Jason Kelly, deputy commanding general for civil and emergency operations with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, described the scale and significance of the project.

“The Central Everglades Planning Project, CEPP, is the crowning jewel of the comprehensive Everglades restoration plan. This project will deliver 370,000 acre-feet of new water south every year. Water that today is lost to time. That's enough water to cover the city of Orlando in about four and a half feet. It'll restore flow across more than 1.5 million acres, revitalizing habitats, rebalancing ecosystems, and reversing decades of decline,” Kelly said. ... Eric Eikenberg reflected on the years of planning and advocacy that led to the current phase of construction.

“On Aug. 9 of 2016, then State Senator Joe Negron stood in a community center in downtown Stewart and called for the authorization and construction of a reservoir south of Lake Okeechobee. Senate Bill 10 passed during the 2017 legislative session and off we went. But at that point it was on paper,” Eikenberg said. “This project finally links Lake Okeechobee to the Everglades that Marjory Stoneman Douglas wrote about, the River of Grass, and then down to the park and Florida Bay. This is a moment that we have been waiting for for decades.” Read the full WQCS article here: https://www.wqcs.org/wqcs-news/2026-04-27/massive-everglades-reservoir-project-moves-forward-with-2029-target?_amp=true

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