"In that meeting, the contract scope, including all major work components, specialized work components, construction sequencing, and site water management were all discussed and it was verified C-43 Water Management Builders JV had considered all those required aspects in their bid," Sharkey says. Bids ranged up to $880 million.

This is the last of four bid packages awarded since 2015 for the C-43 West Basin Storage Reservoir, boosting the total project cost to $1.1 billion, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which shares costs equally with the state. The two-cell reservoir’s 19 miles of dam embankment will hold 170,000 acre-ft of water discharged from Lake Okeechobee to maintain a safe lake water elevation while storing water for irrigation.

The reservoir’s purpose is to improve the timing, quantity, and quality of freshwater flows to the Caloosahatchee River and estuary. Freshwater surges from lakewater discharge and nutrient loads in the lake’s water harm the ecology of the river and estuary, and toxic algal blooms fed by the nutrients have disrupted recreation and damaged the maritime economy of the state’s west coast.