Mack Proposes Reservoir Upgrade

Press Release

Mack proposes reservoir upgrade

A news conference Tuesday reannouncing a recently introduced bill in the U.S. House of Representatives was all smiles, good humor and optimism.

Rep. Connie Mack IV, R-Fort Myers, introduced a bill Thursday that would authorize a water-quality component for the C-43 Basin Storage Reservoir being built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

On hand Tuesday at Centennial Park in downtown Fort Myers were Lee County commissioners, representatives of the South Florida Water Management District, county scientists and area environmentalists.

"We've got to work together," Mack said. "For us to be successful, it will take the support of the community. We're going to go to work in Washington to make sure the water-quality component is added, so the Caloosahatchee River will be a place to provide great opportunities for the people of Southwest Florida."

Co-sponsors of the bill are Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Miami, Vern Buchanan, R-Sarasota, and Tim Mahoney, D-Palm Beach Gardens.

For three years, the Caloosahatchee and estuary have suffered from problems related to freshwater releases from Lake Okeechobee.

Among other outcomes, nutrients in the water caused massive algal blooms that smothered seagrass and killed fish.

When completed in 2010, the reservoir in Hendry County will store up to 55 billion gallons of water, thus preventing huge quantities of water from flowing down the river.

People criticized the project because it included no plans to clean nutrients from the water before it was released into the river. If Mack's bill passes, the reservoir will contain a filter marsh that will remove nutrients.

One of the few nongovernmental officials at the news conference was Rae Ann Wessel, natural resources policy director for the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation.

"The reservoir will be a shallow body of water that we're putting dirty water in and growing algae," she said. "Having a water-quality component that allows us to scrub and treat the water is absolutely critical."

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