The District is a major sponsor and supporter of the Lake Region Water Treatment Plant, a proposed 10 million gallon per day water treatment facility that will replace the aging plants currently owned and operated by the cities of Belle Glade, Pahokee and South Bay in Palm Beach County, Florida. The new plant will shift the water supply source from Lake Okeechobee and use water from the Floridian Aquifer, a deep groundwater source, and treat it using reverse osmosis. The facility will wholesale high quality potable water to each of the three cities. Centralization of the plant will provide economies of scale resulting in reduced cost to the consumer.
This treatment plant and water tower in Pahokee is part of the system that will be updated.
The District has cost-shared with Palm Beach County on projects to support Lake Worth Lagoon restoration. Lake Worth Lagoon was designated a state priority water body in the 2004 Florida Statutes Chapter 373.453 - Surface Water Improvement and Management (SWIM) plans and programs. SFWMD participated in the development of the 1998 Lake Worth Lagoon Management Plan. These projects are consistent with the goals and objectives of the Lake Worth Lagoon Management Plan. The projects are: Ocean Ridge Natural Area Restoration and C-51 Sediment Transport Monitoring. In addition, the C-51 Dredging project that will result in a reduction of sediment inflow to the Lake Worth Lagoon which is a goal of the North Palm Beach County Project of the CERP. One of the management measures planned within the Lake Worth Lagoon is the construction of a prototype sediment trap/sediment treatment plant along the C-51 Canal.
This is a 2-year cooperative agreement with Palm Beach County and the City of West Palm Beach, as a special procurement, for the C-51 Canal Sediment Management Project in the total amount of $2,000,000 of which the District's cost share is not to exceed $1,000,000. Staff from the CERP Planning Department will oversee this project. The C-51 Canal is located in eastern Palm Beach County with the section to be dredged located south of Southern Boulevard, adjacent to I-95.
Recreational fishing is an important benefit of a healthy lagoon ecosystem.
Big Cypress Basin
Projects
This treatment plant and water tower in Pahokee is part of the system that will be updated.
