SOUTH BAY, FL (Boca Post) (Copyright © 2026) — State and federal officials gathered in South Bay on Sunday to announce that all federally funded contracts tied to the Everglades Agricultural Area Reservoir have now been executed, a milestone they said locks in funding and keeps one of South Florida’s most closely watched restoration projects on an accelerated schedule.
The announcement centered on the Everglades Agricultural Area Reservoir, known as the EAA Reservoir, a major component of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan. The project is designed to move more water south from Lake Okeechobee, support aquifer recharge and help restore the historic flow of water through the Everglades, Everglades National Park and Florida Bay.
Gov. Ron DeSantis appeared with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and other state and federal officials in Palm Beach County to mark what they described as full execution of the federally managed contracts needed to meet a 2029 completion target. That date is five years ahead of the original timeline outlined for the reservoir.
The state said the milestone was made possible by a July 2025 agreement between Florida and the federal government that gave Florida a larger role in carrying out federally funded portions of the restoration work. Under that memorandum of understanding, the state has taken the lead on key project components while continuing to coordinate with the Army Corps.
The EAA Reservoir sits at the center of long-running efforts to change how water is stored and sent south in South Florida. For residents in Palm Beach County and across the region, the project has been tied to broader concerns over water quality, ecosystem restoration and how the state manages flows from Lake Okeechobee into the Everglades system.
State and federal officials said all contracts necessary to meet the accelerated 2029 target are now in place, which they said secures funding and resources through completion. DeSantis said the reservoir is now positioned to move forward on a faster schedule because Florida and federal agencies agreed to cut through what he described as traditional delays.
The agreement already has pushed several pieces of work ahead. State officials said construction timelines for the reservoir have been shortened by five years, and that critical infrastructure is already underway, including an inflow pump station capable of moving 3 billion gallons of water a day from Lake Okeechobee. They also said agreements tied to the outflow pump station are nearing completion faster than they would under a standard federal process.
Florida has also taken responsibility for the Blue Shanty Flow Way project, which officials described as the final connection needed to move water south into Everglades National Park and Florida Bay. The state said ground was broken on that project just two months after the 2025 memorandum was signed and that the work is moving ahead at about half the original federal cost estimate.
The reservoir has long been described by planners as one of the most important pieces of the broader Everglades restoration effort because of its role in storing, treating and sending water south. Officials said the project is expected to help restore more natural water movement through what is often called the River of Grass.
The South Florida Water Management District, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers all play central roles in the work, with federal and state coordination now more tightly linked under the 2025 agreement. That matters because Everglades restoration is not a single project. It is a network of infrastructure, environmental targets and water-control decisions spread across multiple agencies and jurisdictions.
The DeSantis administration also used the announcement to frame the project within the state’s larger spending push on Everglades restoration and water quality. The governor’s office said Florida has committed nearly $8 billion to related projects since DeSantis took office, including $3.3 billion during his first term and $4.6 billion during the first three years of his second term. The proposed 2026 state budget includes another $1.4 billion, which would bring total investment to $9.5 billion if approved.
State officials said those investments have tripled water storage capacity in South Florida and contributed to environmental gains, including Florida Bay reaching salinity targets for the first time in decades.
What happens next is construction. With the contract phase now fully in place, the next benchmark for residents, environmental groups and local governments to watch is whether the state and federal partnership keeps the EAA Reservoir and its related pump and flow-way infrastructure on the promised 2029 timetable.
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