Feeder Canal Basin Water Quality Program
The Feeder Canal Basin Water Quality Program is a state effort that will complement the Western Everglades Restoration Project (WERP). WERP, a component of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP), is a federal project that seeks to use a series of active and passive water management and water quality features along with modifications to existing canals and levees in order to improve the quantity, quality, timing, and distribution of water in the Western Everglades in the effort to re-establish ecological connectivity, reduce the severity and frequency of wildfires, and restore low nutrient conditions.
The SFWMD is committed to engaging with landowners and other stakeholders in the basin to ensure that water exiting the Feeder Canal sub-basins meets water quality targets. These state efforts will be achieved through the SFWMD’s Feeder Canal Basin Water Quality Program.
Program Goals
- Plan and implement activities and projects to improve water quality exiting the Feeder Canal Basin to meet downstream phosphorus targets.
- Evaluate regional project alternatives to reduce nutrient loads moving south.
- Engage with landowners to implement storage, flow, and attenuation projects to improve water management.
Program Scope
- Achieve the program’s goals which includes meeting with and establishing regular communication with stakeholders to identify and address concerns.
- Gather historical regional and local data for greater understanding of water quality and hydrology.
- Propose both regional projects and small scale conceptual projects to evaluate and pursue.
- Stakeholder workshops and individual meetings will be held.
- Workshop #1 was held on February 15, 2024.
- The SFWMD will communicate with landowners to update a water quality monitoring network within the basin. Monitoring is expected to begin September 2024. In the West Feeder Canal Subbasin, samples will be collected routinely along the Lard Can, Tony Strand, and Wingate Mill canals to supplement existing data collection at the West Feeder Weir. In the North Feeder Canal Subbasin, samples will be collected along County Road 833 and along the South Boundary Canal.
- Based on concepts presented during the Phase I Scoping Report, the SFWMD will work with landowners to identify and prioritize regional and small scale projects in the West Feeder Canal Subbasin. These projects are expected to undergo design, build, and operation phases.
- The SFWMD will continue investigating a South Boundary Canal extension.
Contact Information
For more information email FeederContact@sfwmd.gov.
