WEST PALM BEACH – At their March 13 meeting, South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) Governing Board members reviewed plans for a new Okeechobee Field Station.

Rich Virgil said the existing field station opened in 1962.

The existing field station, at 1000 N.E. 40^th Avenue in Okeechobee has reached the end of its useful life as the old metal buildings are prone to corrosion, he explained.

City of Okeechobee officials indicated they do not want SFWMD to rebuild the facility at the current location because it is within a residential area. Additionally, the current facility does not have sanitary sewer available.  

The existing service center is in a leased facility. The inclusion of the service center in the new facility will allow the services to be provided at a district-owned facility.

The new facility will consolidate and centrally locate the works and services provided in support of SFWMD’s mission through the combined efforts of Operations and Maintenance, Community, Government Relations, Land Management, Regulation, SCADA, Survey and Water Quality.

Virgil said the original field station was built to serve Central and South Florida Flood Supply (C&SF) projects in the 1950s and 1960s. Over the years, the Okeechobee facility has added the responsibility for a number of large new projects.

The SFWMD Okeechobee Field Station and Service Center are responsible for the operation and management of Nubbin Slouth STA, Taylor Creek STA, 10 Mile Creek Reservoir and STA, Lakeside Ranch STA, the C-44 Reservoir and STA, the C-23/C-24 STA.

He said the main reason the new facility is needed is due to the large new projects that have come online and future projects coming up including the aquifer storage and recovery (ASR) wells and water treatment systems and the Lake Okeechobee Component A Reservoir (LOCAR).

“There’s a lot of operation and maintenance (O&M) responsibilities associated with the ASR sites,” said Virgil.

The new home of the SFWMD Okeechobee Field Station will be on the west side of U.S. 441 N. about 3.2 miles north of the City of Okeechobee, near the Taylor Creek STA.

The Field Station will include a 120 ft. communications tower. It will be a regional hub with a backup emergency operations center, a Regional Water Quality Laboratory, and offices of the FWC Statewide Nuisance Alligator Program.

“This certainly has been a long time coming,” said Governing Board Member Ben Butler. “This is what the district needs in order to maintain that big picture – all these projects we have that will require O & M.

It’s going to increase the efficiency of the team, said Bulter.