Northern Area of Lake Okeechobee Watershed Basin | Central Florida, USA | Client: South Florida Water Management District

South Florida Water Management District is the largest water management district responsible for control and management of surface water in the State of Florida. A major current issue for the quality of surface water within the district is the high concentration of phosphorous in stormwater runoff from agricultural areas.  In an effort to reduce phosphorous concentrations in surface water, the State of Florida passed a law that management systems must be designed and constructed to reduce phosphorous concentration below 105 mg/L. One of the early stages of the work included preparation of a comprehensive report identifying various scenarios of future projects to be considered for implementation in order to reduce phosphorous concentrations in surface waters within the district. Globex was part of a large team of consultants working on the report. The report considered four different scenarios, each consisting of many projects to be implemented at different locations within the northern area of the Lake Okeechobee watershed basin. The northern area of the Lake Okeechobee watershed basin covers an area from Lake Okeechobee to Orlando, Florida.

The project considered development of reservoirs, large wetland areas for taking up excess phosphorous by various plant species within the wetlands, new regulations limiting concentrations of phosphorous in runoff from agricultural areas and municipalities, and water storage/treatment areas developed on large properties owned by farmers. Each scenario was analyzed based of water storage capacity and concentration reduction impact. A ranking system was developed to rank the impact of each scenario. The recommended scenario for implementation was identified and the benefits of the recommended scenario were summarized in the report. The final report was presented to the Florida Legislature for final approval and budget allocation.