Mast speaks alongside Governor, Army Corps at EAA Reservoir

South Bay, Florida - U.S. Representative Brian Mast (FL-21) delivered remarks today at the construction site of the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) Reservoir, alongside Governor DeSantis and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officials, marking a milestone in what has been referred to as the "crown jewel of Everglades restoration."

For decades, excess water from Lake Okeechobee was engineered to flow into the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee estuaries, releasing nutrient-laden water that has repeatedly led to outbreaks of toxic blue-green algae and red tide. Red tide saltwater blooms and the blue-green algae, its freshwater counterpart, have devastated Florida communities, closed beaches, and hurt fisheries. After an extreme bloom in 2018, a NOAA study calculated a massive $2.7 billion loss on South Florida's economy.

The original water system was intended to prevent flooding, but it has come at the cost of disrupting the natural flow of water to the Everglades and the health of the people and ecosystems surrounding it. This is what the EAA Reservoir was designed to remedy.

The Reservoir will redirect the water south, store over 78 billion gallons of water, and deliver up to 470 billion gallons of clean water annually to the Everglades and Florida Bay. Through a 10,500-acre reservoir for excess water from Lake Okeechobee with a separate 6,500-acre stormwater treatment area to filter out the nutrients, the reservoir will deliver cleaner water to Florida's vast network of estuaries.

Critical elements of its infrastructure are underway, and today's announcement recognized those successes while assessing the path forward for completing the reservoir.

Rep. Mast on today's announcement:

"And President Trump…he was the first president to come out and stand with many of us on the shores of Lake Okeechobee a number of years ago, recognizing the connectivity of this entire system."

"What we're dealing with here is something that connects all of us in Florida: water.

Water connects all of us-whether we're sitting at a restaurant on the water, living in a home on the water, walking out onto a dock, fishing from a boat, or relaxing at a sandbar.

Whether it's the water that flows from Lake Okeechobee, down through the River of Grass into the Everglades, and out to Florida Bay and Everglades National Park-every single one of us is connected by the water in the state of Florida.

And for every one of you I've mentioned-and the hundreds more I haven't-thank you. Thank you for making it your commitment. What connects all of us will be better than anywhere else in the country-anywhere else in the world.

That's what you're working to accomplish.

So thank you, everybody, for your commitment."