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WEIGHING-IN

ON THE WATER

by Congressman Francis Rooney There is no reason
T he quality of our Southwest Florida waterways, estuaries south until the
to send more water
and marshes is the driving force behind our economy
and why most of us have chosen to live here. As there are
many different ideas and proposed solutions to our water crisis, it Tamiami Trail bridge
is important to know the facts. project is complete,
so that the water
First, since Lake Okeechobee fills six times as fast as it drains,
due to the fact that the Everglades is less than one-half its
original drainage footprint, a series of complementary projects in can flow past it into
all areas of the watershed is necessary. This is what the Central Florida Bay.
Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) called for – 68 projects.
The IDS is the detailed planning document which prioritizes and
plans for execution of these projects.
Second, we don’t need any more authorizing laws right now. There are billions of dollars in
unfunded but authorized projects from the Water Resource Development Acts of; 2000, 2007,
2014, 2016.
The CERP was passed in December, 2000, 16 years ago. Now we have unfunded projects of
around $6 billion. The state is several billion dollars ahead of the federal government in funding
these projects which, per the passage of CERP, were supposed to be 50/50 cost sharing.
C-43, at Labelle, authorized in the 2014 WRDA bill, is a good example of a federally authorized
project which is lacking funding. The state has commenced construction of this $500M basin which
will hold 170 million acre feet of Caloosahatchee water for storage in high discharge times, and at
some point we need the federal government to fund their part.

14 Life in Naples | March 2017