Shoddy work stalls project

Softmud blames the Corps of Engineers for the Everglades problem.

WEST PALM BEACH - A major Everglades restoration project is stalled because of shoddy work managed by the Army Corps of Engineers on a reservoir that could threaten an interstate and nearby communities if levee walls were to fail, state officials said Wednesday.

While the corps hired an outside contractor to do the work, the agency "was ultimately responsible," said George Horne, deputy executive director of the South Florida Water Management District, or Softmud.

"If it were filled to capacity and it were to rupture, you would certainly flood" Interstate 95 and surrounding communities, Horne said.

He said Ten Mile Creek reservoir needs about $13-million for repairs to fix leaks in levee walls and embankments, parts of which are crumbling, among other problems.

Construction was completed last year but the district has been able to fill the reservoir with only about 684-million gallons - only 38 percent of the intended 1.8-billion gallon capacity - because of safety concerns.

It was initially a $27-million project, including state and federal funds, but eventually climbed to about $35-million. With the needed repairs, the project will cost about $48-million, Horne said.

Alan Bugg, chief of construction and operations for the corps' Jacksonville office, assured water district board members the problems would be fixed.

The corps is working to shore up the 143-mile-long Herbert Hoover Dike around Lake Okeechobee after a state-commissioned report last year found it was highly vulnerable to breaches and bore "a striking resemblance to Swiss cheese." More than 45,000 people live in the potential flood zone near the lake.

The 550-acre reservoir near Fort Pierce, about 130 miles north of Miami, is supposed to be storing stormwater runoff to keep deluges from flowing into the Indian River Lagoon, part of the overall Everglades ecosystem.

A water district subcommittee on Wednesday recommended giving the reservoir back to the corps to fix the problems.

[Last modified September 12, 2007, 22:14:20]