Big iron, cement pours, 'mind-boggling' progress: Caloosahatchee reservoir full-steam ahead

Despite conflicts, delays, ultimatums, a firing and legal fights, progress on the C-43 reservoir carries on at “mind-boggling” speed.

Thursday’s governing board meeting of the South Florida Water Management District included an update on the massive water storage project, designed to help the Caloosahatchee River and the estuary to which it flows.

If water quality in that estuary suffers, so do the tourist economies of Sanibel, Fort Myers Beach and the region’s other barrier islands. That's why finishing the reservoir is crucial, says board chair Chauncey Goss of Sanibel.

Four months ago, the almost half-billion-dollar project hit the skids when the board terminated the principal builder’s contract for not meeting construction deadlines.

The contractor sued; the district sued back, and legal wrangling is ongoing.

Meanwhile, there was concern over how the dispute would affect work on the $560-million reservoir.

An engineered lake bigger than some cities

At 18 square miles, more than 10,000 football fields, the bigger-than-Naples (or Pennsylvania's Allentown, for that matter) artificial lake will hold more than 55 billion gallons of water at a depth averaging 20 feet.

In broad strokes, engineer and Division Director Lucine Dadrian told the board the reservoir is intended to:

• Capture excess basin water from the surrounding area

• Capture releases from Lake Okeechobee and

• Improve the salinity balance for the Caloosahatchee Estuary by capturing peak flows during the wet season, then providing essential water when the river needs it during the dry season.

Dadrian’s slide show-and-tell walked the board through all that’s happened since April 28, when the contract with an international group known as C-43 Water Management Builders, Lane Construction or Webuild, was terminated.

With the principal gone, the district took things into its own hands and got back to work. Now, said the district's Executive Director Drew Bartlett, the project is on track to be done for the wet season of 2025.

Dadrian shared photos and videos of that work: huge excavations, re-routed canals, giant water gates and dams, concrete pours and massive machines at work: “big iron,” as she called them, and mills and silos for the soil-cement that will eventually line the reservoir.

“(When) building a reservoir, you know you’re heading to completion when you start soil-cement on the interior face,” Dadrian said. Though the original contractor had started doing the process, the current team is making more and applying it faster, she said, and should be done by December of 2024.

Bottom line: “We are driving the project to finish as early as possible.”

Then came the ask: $104.5 million more.

In official language the board had before it a “Resolution of the Governing Board of the South Florida Water Management District … to authorize additional budgetary authority in the amount of to complete construction of the C-43 Caloosahatchee Basin Storage Reservoir.”

Delays, disputes: Trouble at the reservoir: Water district, C-43 contractor at odds over $560 million contract

Encouraging, infuriating and a teachable moment

After brief public comments – Audubon Florida’s Caitlin Newcamp told the board her nonprofit was glad the project is back on track, but had an ask of her own: additional water storage nearby.

Planner and former board member Dan DeLisi told members, “I’d be lying if I pretended that I wasn’t very nervous when the disruption occurred (but) you guys are doing a fantastic job.”

Board members weighed in: Jay Steinle said, “It was great to see the before and after progress pictures … I’m fully supportive of the resolution. If my math is right, it’s about 15% of the total cost … Could we legally give staff a bonus if you came in a lot under that?” he asked to laughter.

Board Chair Chauncey Goss told Dadrian her presentation was “really, really encouraging and really, really infuriating … What would’ve happened if we hadn’t done what we did?” he asked. “Thank you all for taking the reins on this (and) it’s  something that (we) might want to see what lessons we can learn ... to see if if our staff can’t do some of these things, save some money and move things along more quickly. I know you’re probably going, ‘No, no, no - don’t say that!’ but I think we should explore this further," Goss said. "And, as a resident of Southwest Florida, your commitment to this is really appreciated.”

After the meeting, Goss said huge credit for the full-steam-ahead progress goes to Project Manager John Creswell, who’s done an extraordinary job.

Member Ron Bergeron, who’s worked in engineering and construction for 58 years, said “It just shows you the talent that we have within our organization to take over such a project and bring it to completion.” And member Charlie Martinez, who’s also in the industry, called the progress “mind-boggling … (staff) can not be complemented enough."

Goss had one more observation: "It just dawned on me. You did all that work during the wet season ‒ that’s amazing. I can’t wait to see what you do in the dry season."

“It makes my heart sing,” said board member Cheryl Meads, before making the motion to approve the allocation.

It passed unanimously.

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Caloosahatchee reservoir project needs $104.5 million more to finish