Rehabilitation of the Herbert Hoover Dike surrounding Lake Okeechobee in Florida’s Everglades will be expedited by $50 million of state funds under an April 17 agreement between the state and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The Corps will use it to fund a $55 million construction contract awarded Feb. 28, contingent on funding in future years, to Treviicos South to construct six miles of partial cutoff wall on the southern end of Lake Okeechobee west of Belle Glade. “That $50 million allows us to fully fund and fully commit to the contract,” says John Campbell, spokesman.
This contract is part of a $1.8 billion rehabilitation program designed to reduce flood risk for people living and working around the lake. Since 2001, USACE has invested more than $940 million to construct several features that include installation of 21 miles of seepage barrier and replacement of close to two dozen water control structures. The seepage barrier or cutoff wall consists of cement bentonite slurry poured into the body of the earthen dike to prevent seepage under the structure that could erode it and cause it to fail.