Wenger 72944 Especificações descarregar pdf (Página 198)

Section 5 Formulation of Alternative Plans

EAA Storage Reservoirs Revised Draft PIR and EIS February 2006

5-44

FIGURE 5-8: ECOLOGICAL BENEFITS FOR ST. LUCIE ESTUARY.

5.4.2.2.3 Caloosahatchee Estuary

This analysis showed that during high flow rates, when the reservoirs are used

to provide storage of Lake Okeechobee water, the Project provides benefits to the

Caloosahatchee Estuary. The quality index scores for the future without project

and 360,000 acre-foot volume reservoirs are 0.32 and 0.81, respectively. This is

expected from properly performing reservoirs in this location. The purpose of

the EAA reservoirs is to store water from Lake Okeechobee during high water

events to reduce regulatory releases to the estuaries and then to provide this

water, which would have otherwise been lost to tide, to the EPA to the south

during dryer periods. This Project alone would not be expected to provide

additional water to the estuaries during low flow periods, and will depend upon

the other elements of the CERP to provide those low flows that are necessary for

the full restoration of the estuary. Figure 5-9 shows the annualized benefits to

this estuary. These benefits have a similar pattern to that of the St. Lucie

Estuary, whereby periodic regulatory releases are expected to continue until all

CERP water storage projects come on-line. The main difference between this

estuary from the St. Lucie Estuary is that the Project alone is not expected to

benefit the Caloosahatchee Estuary. While the EAA reservoirs would capture

regulatory releases from the lake, the model output shows that this alone will

not restore the estuary, due to the high inflow of water from the Caloosahatchee

basin runoff. The manner in which the Project helps the estuary is to capture

Lake Okeechobee release water, and allow the other CERP projects, such as the

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Wenger 72944 Especificações Página 198