The Broward County Water Preserve Areas (WPA) project is part of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP). When completed, the project will reduce water loss from the central Everglades. The project is designed to perform two primary functions: reduce seepage loss from Water Conservation Area (WCA) 3A/3B to the C-11 and C-9 basins; and capture, store and distribute surface water runoff from the western C-11 basin that has been discharged into WCA 3A/3B.
PROJECT OVERVIEW:
The project consists of three components that were recommended as part of CERP:
- C-11 Impoundment
- C-9 Impoundment
- Water Conservation Area (WCA) 3A/3B Seepage Management
The two aboveground impoundments and the wetland buffer strip will serve various functions, including reducing seepage from WCA-3, reducing phosphorous loading to WCA-3A, capturing water lost to tide, and providing conveyance features for urban and natural systems. These functions will be achieved by separating stormwater from seepage collected from WCA-3 and diverting stormwater from the Western C-11 Basin and the C-9 Basin to the impoundments.
Additional project functions include maintaining existing level of service for
flood mitigation, groundwater recharge, increasing spatial extent of wetlands,
and improving hydroperiods and hydropatterns in WCA-3A/3B.
Existing water reservations will not be affected. Approximately 563,000
acres in WCA-3 and 200,000 acres in the greater Everglades will benefit from
the project’s implementation. The project will also benefit federally listed
threatened and endangered species and many wading birds